Seven
by A-Timid-Dream-of-They-and-Them
Summary: Ginny went to the pond one morning. However, there was already someone standing in it. On a ridiculously long hiatus.
1. Chapter 1

**AN: This is a Ginny/Luna pairing fan fiction. It will take a couple of chapters to get there, so stick with me. Also, I have noticed that I frequently lose confidence in my writing, and discontinue it. If there is a crazy amount of time between each chapter, that's because I was either busy or lost confidence in myself. Finally, this is not my world. All of the characters and settings and stuff belongs to J.K. Rowling.**

The first time Luna and Ginny's lives collided was when they were both seven. Ginny had gotten bored of playing Gobstones and was forbidden from, playing Quidditch by Mum. Percy was a great brother, but he could make the most exiting things super boring. She had settled for catching minnows in the pond. It was extremely dull, but it was better than being told to write in her diary or play with dolls by Mum.

However, when Ginny arrived at the pond, there was already some, standing knee deep in it. The girl had pretty blond hair and was staring off into who knows where. Ginny knew vaguely that the girl's name was Luna. The village kids sometimes talked about her when they had noting better to do. Their words weren't necessarily kind. Luna came back to reality with a start when she noticed Ginny staring at her with a start.

"Hello," Luna said serenely, "Have you seen any Nargles around? I've been trying to catch one for the past hour." Ginny furrowed her brow in confusion. She had never heard of a Nargle, and was about to ask what it was when Ron came sulking into view.

"Hey Ginny. Mum said that I had to watch over you-" Ron stopped and lookedd at Luna, who had not moved from her postion of being knee deep in the pond, "Who's your friend?"

"My birth name is Luna, but the village children call me Looney," Luna responded calmly. That was surprising to Ginny, who was considering Ron to be very rude. Ron's face hardened. He had probably heard to rumors too.

"Let's go, Ginny, " Ron said, attempting to steer Ginny back to the house. Ginny quite thought that her brother was being a word that she was forbidden to say, and therefore planted her feet hard into the dewy ground.

"I don't care if you're going back inside, I'm staying out here to search for Nargles with Luna," Ginny said firmly. Luna began to smile. Ron rolled his eyes.

"Well, Mum said-" Ron started.

"I don't particularly, care what Mum said, Ronald," Ginny interrupted, "Just go read about your stupid Quidditch team." Luna was now grinning from ear to ear. Ron shoved his hands into his pockets and stalked back to the Burrow, muttering as darkly as an eight year old could. Ginny turned back towards Luna.

"So, what exactly is a Nargle?" Ginny asked, causing both girls to nearly dissolve into giggles. When Luna had finally caught her breath, she sarted speaking.

"Well, Nargles are creatures that my Daddy, Mummy, and I know to exist. Other people don't think they're real, but they can be incredibly mischievous, so we always wear Butterbeer cork necklaces," Luna explained, proudly displaying her cork necklace.

"Cool!" Ginny exclaimed, fascinated by Luna's eccentric manner, "Charlie always says that there are a bunch of magical creatures in the swamp near the Fawcett's house. Why don't we start there?" Luna beamed and bounced on the balls of her feet.

"That's a great idea, Ginny, why didn't I think of that?" Luna exclaimed, before setting off to the Fawcett's house, Ginny followng.

For the rest of the afternoon, the two girls searched for the elusive Nargle. Several times, they came close to catching one, but it would always slip away at the last second. Nevertheless, both Ginny and Luna had the best afternoon ever. However, noon soon turned into evening and the girls had to return home for dinner. Before she left, Ginny had a sudden thought.

"Luna, will you be my friend?"Ginny asked hopefully. Luna looked rather startled, but then smiled widely.

"Of course! I've never had a friend before!" Luna then skipped back to her house, feeling better then she ever had in her lifetime.

…...

The Weasley's had a family tradition where they would go around the dinner table and state what the best part of their day was. Of course, Ginny was the youngest, and therefore went last. The moment Ron stopped going on about Chudley Cannons _finally_ won a game, Ginny launched into an explanation of meeting Luna and the great Nargle chase. Once she had stopped speaking, she looked around the table, positively beaming.

"That's great, Ginny," Dad said happily. He was always encouraging her to meet some of the children in Ottery St. Catchpole. Mum, however, appeared to be downright ecstatic. At least, until Percy, being the bleep that he is, ruined everything.

"Isn't Luna Lovegood the eccentric, magizoology obsessed girl who lives in the rook shaped house? I've always found her to be a bit mad," Percy stated whilst his only sister glared daggers at him. Mum began to look a little bit worried, but Ginny was sure it would be okay. But then Ron opened his big mouth.

"I talked to her a little bit today, Mum. She is rather odd." Ron added. Ginny gave him a glare worthy of You-know-who. Mum seemed to be considering something.

"Well, Ginny, I am not sure if Luna is the best influence. And, Ronald Bilius," Mum added severely, "Play with Ginerva when I tell you too." Both Ginny and Ron started to protest before deciding against disagreeing with Mum. Nobody disagreed with Mum. Instead, Ginny settled for moodily pushing her food around her plate until dinner was over. Little did Mum know that she was already planning out what to do with Luna the next day.


	2. Chapter 2

**AN:Looking back, this chapter is pretty bad. Like, really bad. I'm thinking of doing a time warp in chapter three so I don't have to type a chapter for every day. I just do not feel like that. Again, this world does not belong to me. It's all J.K. Rowling's.**

The next day, Ginny was up before dawn. She made herself a quick breakfast of toast and orange juice while packing herself a lunch. She was about to walk out the door when she decided to leave a note for Mum, so she would not get worried ("Out with Luna. Nargles are especially elusive this season"). Five minutes later Ginerva Molly Weasley was out of the house and ready for another adventure. Surprisingly, Luna was also up and was waiting by the flutterby bush on the front step. Once she saw Ginny, Luna lept up in excitement.

"Come on! I have something cool to show you!" Luna exclaimed. The blond girl started running to the forest nearby. Ginny, who had just arisen several minutes go, had trouble keeping up.

"How...did...you...know...I... was...up...so...early?" Ginny asked breathlessly. It was rather hard to speak when you were running.

"I just did," Luna responded. She then came to a sudden halt in a clearing, "This is my house!" Ginny realized that Percy was right. The Lovegood house did look like a rook. The house looked to be about fifty feet in height and had several exotic looking plants in front. Luna turned to Ginny.

"We have to be really, really, quiet," Luna instructed, "We don't want to wake up Mummy and Daddy." Luna then entered the house, Ginny right behind her. They climbed a spiral staircase or two and got to Luna's room, which was painted a cheerful blue. One the walls were several hand drawn posters of odd creatures. There was a large shelf full of overflowing binders. Ginny could see that they were labeled, "Expedition Notes." In the closet were many possible outfit combinations sorted by color. Her eyes were soon attracted away from the bedroom by Luna shoving a mason jar in her face.

"I caught one!" Luna whisper shouted, "While I was just about to go over to your house! I saw it by the mistletoe and was able to catch it!" Ginny bounced with excitement and happiness. Sure, it was a tad disappointing that Luna caught it without her, but c'est la vie, as Bill would say.

"This is amazing Luna!" Ginny exclaimed loudly, before clapping her hand to her mouth in regret. Luna shrugged and smiled.

"I'm almost positive that Mummy and Daddy are already awake. I could hear them whispering earlier," Luna said slyly, "I wanted to see if it was possible for you to be quiet." Ginny's face fell for just a moment,before realizing it was a joke a grinning widely.

"Mum always says that I sound like a band of Erumpents in the morning," Ginny said apologetically. Luna hummed and nodded in agreement.

"You did scare the Nargles away," Luna reasoned. Ginny scoffed.

"I'm pretty sure that was you screaming about how you forgot your spectrespecs," Ginny said. Luna smiled and decided to let the back and forth stop. Either way, she couldn't think of a comeback for that. She _did_ forget her spectespecs and panicked when she realized she didn't have them. Wrackspurts were notorious for tangling her hair into knots that were impossible to get out.

Meanwhile, Pandora Lovegood was listening at her little girl's door. She smiled at the fun they were having together. Luna always had trouble with the other children. Pandora turned the handle of the door and entered the room with her arms held wide.

"Mummy," Luna squealed, running into her mother's arms. Ginny smiled at the sight. Pandora then turned to the little redhead who was also in her daughter's room.

"You must be Ginerva," Pandora said serenely, "I sometimes have tea with your Mum and the Fawcett's." Ginny looked up at the older woman nervously. She was rather shy around strangers, but this woman seemed very nice. She was wearing a bright yellow two-piece pajama set and had protuberant eyes, just like Luna. Plus, anyone who was friends with Mum must be nice.

"Yes, I am, Mrs. Lovegood," Ginny replied nervously. Pandora noticed the girl's discomfort and laughed.

"Oh, I don't bite," Pandora reassured the child, whose discomfort eased considerably, "Why don't you join us for breakfast?"

"Oh, I couldn't intr-" Ginny started, before Luna interrupted her.

"It's never an intrusion, Ginny," Luna said indignantly, "Plus, we're having gillyweed pancakes for are really good." Ginny had no idea what gillyweed pancakes were, but she supposed that it was another thing that Luna liked. Reluctantly, she followed Pandora and Luna down to the dining room.

It was painted a bright, neon yellow, almost like a highlighter. The table was half covered by knitted blue tablecloth. The other part was still unfinished, as far as Ginny could tell. The cutlery and plates were covered in painted daises, which gave a happy feel to the entire place. In the corner was a printing press spewing out a magazine that Ginny recognized as something that Charlie always read.

A man dressed in a rainbow of colors was already sitting at the table, reading the Daily Prophet and scoffing. Ginny could only assume that this was Luna's father. The man looked up and smiled at Ginny, before going back to reading and scoffing.

"Please sit down, Ginny," Pandora smiled. Ginny sat down awkwardly. A minute later, Luna and Pandora joined her and Luna's father. Pandora sat a plate of green tinted pancakes on the table.

"So, Ginny, do your parents know you're here?" Pandora asked, spooning gillyweed pancakes onto Luna's plate. Ginny shifted uncomfortably in her seat.

"Well, I left a note on the kitchen counter," She said. Pandora poured some honey onto her pancakes. Luna looked over at Ginny with a mouthful of gillyweed.

"Do you want to go to the river today?" Luna asked. Ginny shifted in her seat yet again,this time in excitement.

"That would be great, Luna," Ginny confirmed. According to Fred and George, who went down there often to do who-knows-what, the river had many exotic plants that were invisible to muggles. Pandora looked over at the two girls.

"Why don't I pack up your breakfast so you can go early. Most plants will just begin unfurling now," Pandora offered. Luna hopped out of her seat and gave her mother a kiss on the cheek, before running out the door. Ginny murmured a quick thanks to the Lovegoods before following Luna out the door. The girl's breakfast came out of the house, levitating and following the girls a minute later. Ginny had to admit: The gillyweed pancakes were delicious.


	3. Chapter 3

**AN: So, I decided to do the time warp. I just do not feel like typing a chapter for every day Ginny and Luna spent together. I'm tired. I have a life outside of this. I'm tired. Again, this world is all J.K. Rowlings.**

 _2 years later..._

"Remember how the day after I met you we came down to this river and explored," Ginny smiled remiscently. Luna looked at her. Ginny hated to see her only friend so sad. Ever since Mrs. Lovegood died, Luna had fallen into disarray. Of course, Ginny would be worried if she didn't. Luna looked down at the unnaturally growing river.

"Yeah," She whispered quietly,"I do. It was the same day I caught my first Nargle." Ginny looked off towards the Lovegood house before laying back onto the river bank. A bumblebee promptly attacked her nose.

"You were so excited that you wrapped the mason jar up in ribbon and came to my house at five o'clock in the morning to show me," Ginny remembered. Both girls sighed at the same time. They looked at each other and giggled, before remembering that they weren't supposed to be giggling yet. Luna abruptly stood up.

"I'm going to go home," Luna said bluntly. Ginny nodded in agreement before Luna walked off in despair. Ginny flicked the bumblebee off her nose in annoyance, which came back to sting her on her arm. Before she could say or do anything in annoyance, Fred and George appeared on either side of her and sat down.

"Dear Mother told us we need to stop exploding things, so we supposed we would come down to the pond," Fred said from her right, flicking his flip flops off into the sand.

"However, Ickle Ginnikins was already there," George said from her left in the same exact tone as Fred. It frustrated her to no end when they finished each other's thoughts while speaking in the same tone so that she could barely tell them apart. Therefore, they did it all the time. Fred looked at Ginny sideways and saw how upset she was.

"Sorry, Ginny. We didn't mean any harm," Fred apologized. Ginny grunted in acknowledgment. Fred and George looked at each other. They desperately wanted to cheer up Ginny, and preferably Luna also while they were at it. Fred suddenly stood up as though struck by a sudden thought. He rushed off to the Burrow before returning moments later with a large package of balloons. He threw half of the balloons to George, who immediately understood his intentions. The twins sat on the banks, blowing up very colorful balloons. Once they had finished, they looked over at Ginny who was still lying there, lost in thought, the bee still attacking her nose.

"Come on Ginny," George said, "We'e going to fill the space outside of Luna's window with balloons. And you are coming with us." Ginny sighed, before getting up and rubbing her eyes. She followed the boys over to the rook shaped house where she spent much of the last two years playing with Luna.

"How did she die?" Fred asked Ginny gently. Ginny sighed, running her fingers through her hair. She seemed to be choosing her words very carefully.

"Well, Mrs. Loveggod was experimenting with spells. She likes to – sorry, liked to experiment with new spells. One of them went horribly wrong, and the spell damage..." Ginny explained. Fred and George looked at each other in sadness. They always went with Mum to the Lovegood's or Fawcett's for tea, and Mrs. Lovegood would give them cookies and pinch their cheeks. Ginny decided that the silence had gone on far too long.

"So, how are we going to get the balloons up there?" Ginny asked, confused,especially since the window was, or at least appeared to be, twenty feet in the air. You never knew with magic. What looks like ten feet could easily be fifty. That's what it was like with the Diggory's house.

"Well, these are the extras from Bill's birthday. They float up twenty feet and stay there until the magic wears off," George explained to her. Ginny remembered how it was impossible to get the balloons down after his birthday. Mum was on edge for a week until they finally popped.

George handed a handful of balloon strings to Ginny and Fred. He raised his own balloons up in the air and turned to the other two Weasleys.

"On the count of three," George said, "One...two...three." The three children let go of the brightly colored balloons, which floated up to Luna's window and stayed there.

"We're going to go back to the Burrow," Fred said gently, "You can borrow Ron's broom if you want to." Ginny immediately brightened, but then her shoulders drooped again in defeat.

"Mum won't let me play Quidditch," Ginny said miserably. George's mouth quirked into a grin.

"Who says that she has to know?" George said mischievously. Ginny smiled and took his and Fred's hand, and skipped back to the Burrow, looking back at the rook shaped house once or twice. Luna didn't appear at the window.

…...

Luna was lying on her bed in her room. Her pet Nargle, Charles, was buzzing on the mantle, nest to the picture of her and Mummy. Mummy...

Luna missed her so much. Even Ginny couldn't cheer her up, and Ginny could always make her smile with her stupid jokes. Sighing loudly, she turned to the window, where a shocking sight awaited her.

A large amount of balloons were floating outside her window. At first, she was terrifies, because the first one she saw was red, and she had just read _It_ by Stephen King. But then she saw the other balloons, which had messages written on them

 _You are my sunshine._

That was what was written on a yellow balloon. Luna reached out and opened the window. The cool summer evening air greeted her with light breeze on her face. Luna reached out for the yellow balloon and brought it inside, before closing the window. She then tied the string to her bedpost. Hopefully the balloon wold not pop anytime soon. It placed a smile on her face that, even if Mummy was no longer here, she had Ginny: A better friend than she could ever hope for.


	4. Chapter 4

**AN: Here I am, back with another chapter. I was originally going to use a really good idea for this chapter. I was about five hundred words in when I realized that the timeline wouldn't make sense. I'm still going to type up that chapter, but the next eight chapters are just going to be space fillers. I'll still try to make them good. I have standards. Also, I'm not J.K. Rowling. This world is not mine.**

The next two months were hard for Luna, but Ginny was always there for her. It sort of helped to be distracted, and Ginny's Celestina Warbeck impersonation was a great source of that.

One day, however, came a knock on the door. Luna got sleepily out of bed, where she had been staring at the ceiling, imagining a mural of her and Ginny. Maybe once she got to Hogwarts, she could make new friends and add them to the mural. Luna walked down the spiral staircase and opened the door. It was Ginny, dressed up in a frilly pink dress that clashed horribly with her hair.

Ginny must have noticed Luna staring because she said, "Oh, yeah, there's a fair in town today. Mum made me dress up, but Ronald was too sulky to wear a tie. We have an extra ticket. I was wondering if you wanted to go." Luna smiled. Like she would pass up an opportunity to hang out with Ginny.

"Hang on, I'll get my shoes," Luna said, quickly running upstairs to get her rain boots. Sure, it was June, but you never know when it could start raining.

When Luna got back out on the door step, Ginny was looking at the dirigible plums. Ginny noticed Luna looking at her.

"What are dirigible plums?" Ginny asked, pointing to the sign her and Daddy had put up when they first started growing them. Luna grinned. She loved explaining plants and animals to Ginny.

"Well, they are very clearly plums," Luna laughed, "It's just that they are orange and can float." Ginny nodded in understanding. However, Molly Weasley then came into view.

"Well, Ginerva," Mrs. Weasley said sharply, "Do not dawdle. Di you ask Luna if-" Mrs. Weasley then noticed Luna, ready to go in her bright yellow dress and green rain boots.

"Well, come on then, if you are ready," Mrs. Weasley said to the two girls. She then turned on her heel and marched towards the edge of the nearby sledding hill, where the other Weasleys who did not consider themselves too old for fairs were waiting. Ginny and Luna followed, skipping along and chatting. Luna occasionally stopped to observe a bird or odd flower. About ten minutes into the walk, Mrs. Weasley decided to converse with Luna.

"Well, Luna," Mrs. Weasley said in a very patronizing voice, "What do you like to do for fun"Luna fiddled with her dress and hummed in thought.

"Well, I do like to paint and draw pictures of interesting creatures," Luna responded. "I do also like reading horror novels." Mrs. Weasley seemed interested at that. As it turns out, she enjoyed horror novels also.

"Well, which authors do you like," Mrs. Weasley asked curiously. Luna sighed happily.

"I suppose all of them," Luna responded, before being distracted by a rather tall piece of grass. At this, Mrs. Weasley decided to leave Ginny and Luna be and instead reprimand Fred and George for attempting to turn a tree orange with wand less magic.

Ginny looked over at Luna. "Mum can be very frustrating at times. I probably should have given you a heads up," Ginny said. Luna laughed and shook her head.

"Your Mum is very nice. It's cool that she likes horror novels," Luna disagreed. Ginny shrugged.

"I suppose so, but I've always been more into adventure novels. You know, _The Dark Lord and the Magic Gemstone_ and _Agent Muggle Magic_ _."_ Ginny responded before bursting out, "This dress is so uncomfortable!" Luna hummed in sympathy.

"I could try to change it with a little wand less magic,"Luna offered serenely, "The trace doesn't activate until you get your wand, and I happen to have been practicing transfiguration." Ginny looked a little nervous. After all, they were just eight and nine. However, Ginny trusted Luna, so she set her face and nodded determinedly. Luna took a deep breath, pointed her pinky finger at the dress, wriggled her hand, and said, "Genus oppositas muto." Ginny's dress transformed into a light grey sweater over a button down shirt with slacks and dress shoes.

Ginny almost screamed in surprise. She threw her arms around Luna, who patted her back awkwardly. Getting over the initial shock, Ginny took a deep breath and said, "That was amazing, Luna! Fred and George have gone to Hogwarts and they can't do wandless magic like that!" Luna flushed a little in pride.

"Come on, we don't want to be late," Luna said, getting the two girls back on track. Ginny and Luna finally got caught up to the others, who were just on the edge of the village. Mrs. Weasley expressed initial shock over Ginny's outfit change, but then praised Luna on her amazing spell work. Finally, she turned to the for children.

"Now be careful," Mrs. Weasley said, handing the children their tickets for the day. "Let us meet back here by noon. Now, go. Have fun." Ginny and Luna immediately took off. Luna had never gone to a fair before, and it was rather exciting. She and Ginny played several carnival games, which resulted in both girls won a stuffed animal. Luna's was a unicorn, while Ginny chose a lion.

"My entire family has been in Gryffinor. It's kind of putting pressure on me and Ronald. Everybody expects us to continue the family line," Ginny explained, holding up the lion stuffed animal, "But I feel more like a Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff." Luna thought for a moment.

"I suppose you would be a Ravenclaw," Luna said thoughtfully, "You do like learning about new things. And, if there is something you don't know, you find out." Ginny sighed, leaning against the fence and playing with her stuffed lion.

"I just don't want to be a disappointment," Ginny sighed, sinking to the ground. Luna dropped her stuffed unicorn and put her hand on Ginny's shoulders.

"You are not a disappointment," Luna said firmly, "Now,get that thought out of your head and let's go ride the Ferris wheel." Ginny chuckled and skipped along with Luna. The lion stuffed animal remained behind, sitting against the fence, forgotten.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Yes, I did adventure into the depths of google to find the weather for July 1990 in London so I can talk about it in my fan fiction and not be entirely accurate about the weather in some random village. Just in case you were wondering. Also, still not J.K. Rowling.**

July had finally arrived. It was Ginny's favorite moth of the year. This was because it was a full month where the entire family was together. Dad even had a week or two off, so the entire family was in the house. Except for Bill. Bill was in Bulgaria visiting his significant other.

Charlie, who had just returned from his sixth year at Hogwarts, had been spiritedly talking about being a dragon trainer when he graduated. This provided source for much entertainment, since Mum wanted him to go into the Ministry of Magic. However, when Charlie had his mind set on something, he would do it. Even Mum's steely glare could not stop him.

Fred and George had recently returned from their first year at Hogwarts, and had scraped by with relatively good marks. Both twins passed all classes with at least E's which made Mum really proud.

But then there was Percy. Percy had been a little bit...odd ever since coming back from his third year. He had become more isolated and even more pompous then ever. He was almost a completely different person. He said that Professor McGonnagall had praised his transfiguration, which would make sense for making him so frustrating. But his ego had just gone through the roof.

Don't misunderstand, Ginny loved all of her family. Even Percy, the pompous king he was. And she loved having them all together and happy. But...sometimes... it was a little bit much to have everybody surrounding her, talking loudly. Her only escape was Luna.

Now, Luna understood not wanting to talk to people or be in large crowds. She understood that Ginny sometimes needed to just get away from everybody and weave daisy chains or something. And that was exactly what they were doing now.

Ginny and Luna were sitting in the fields nearby the Fawcett house. There had been a while since the last rainstorm, and it was 31 degrees Celsius. Almost all of the daisies had died. But there was still a patch about thirty meters left of the river. Ginny had come over to Luna's after being overwhelmed by the rather competitive annual family chess tournament. Luna had suggested weaving daisy chains, which Ginny doubted due to the heat would work. But, after an hour of searching, they had found the patch.

So here they are. Two girls, one with blond hair, one with red. Chatting about random things. Luna tied another daisy onto her chain and wiped the sweat off her forehead.

"This was a bad idea," Luna sighed, "It is way too hot out here. Not that inside is much better." The Lovegood's cooling charms had worn off previously that week and had resisted being put back up for some weird magical reason.

"Tell me about it," Ginny mumbled, "I heard in the daily prophet that cooling charms had been disabled around the world because they may turn out to be muggle attracting." Luna gasped in realization.

"They do realize that it was all of the noise being generated by the wizard's convention in that town and the people running the event's incompetence that caused the muggles to stumble upon it, right?" Luna asked in suspicion. Ginny shrugged.

"Well, Minister Fudge was just elected in June and he can't leave office until at least two months later because of laws or something, so they need a scapegoat. It would look bad for the minister of magic to forget to place such a simple thing as silencing charms," Ginny explained tiredly. Luna rolled her eyes and flopped back onto the grass.

"Our world is corrupt," Luna groaned, not wanting to open her eyes to the full blast of the sunshine.

"Basically," Ginny agreed. But then a voice came over the hearing. It was Percy.

"I couldn't help but overhear your conversation," Percy said, sitting between the two girls, much to Luna's dismay," But I can assure you that the Ministry of Magic and the minister for that matter re completely competent. All of the newspapers are reporting that it was in fact the cooling charms and not the noise that attracted all those muggles." Luna rolled her eyes again, shooting Percy a dirty look.

"You can't believe everything you hear," Ginny said in defiance.

"Yes, well, the Daily Prophet is the most reliable source in the wizarding world, " Percy dismissed Ginny with a wave of his hand. Luna's hands clenched in frustration.

"I would beg to differ on that," Luna said through gritted teeth. Percy sniffed importantly.

"That lunatic Quibbler barely qualifies as a source of news, if that's what you mean," Percy stated. Luna looked so angry that Ginny had to avert the conversation away from newspapers.

"So, why are you here, Perce?" Ginny asked. Percy stiffened considerably.

"'Perce' is a child's name," Percy grumbled. Luna smiled at Percy's displeasure. He was fairly insufferable.

"That's not what I asked you, Percy," Ginny reminded him. Percy sighed through his nose and adjusted his horn rimmed glasses.

"Mum told me to retrieve you. The inter family chess championship rules state that all family members must be present when the winner is crowned," Percy explained, "Ronald won, and, also, you can't just run out on these things." Ginny blushed embarrassingly. Luna, however, was done with Percy. She stood up, summoned a cup of pumpkin juice with wandless magic, and splashed Percy in the face with it before storming off. Percy blinked in surprise before wiping his face in disgust. He then stood up and turned to Ginny.

"Well, hurry up Ginerva. I can't believe you hang around that _lunatic_ ," Percy began walking away, but Ginny then caught up with him and swatted him hard in the back of the head.

"That _lunatic_ happens to be my friend. And a far better one then you for that matter. And I can't help it that I get socially anxious and that I'm not exactly like you. So get off your high horse and realize that people are different," Ginny said angrily. She then stomped off after Luna to apologize for her brother being an idiot. Percy sighed and went back over to the house to announce that Ginny would not be present for the awards ceremony.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Here's another chapter that you are reading. Also, you may think that Ginny and Luna are uncharacteristically sinister in this chapter, but this is totally something that I would do, so deal with not J.K. Rowling.**

By the time Ginny had caught up with Luna, Luna had reached the field near the Diggory's house. Ginny ran up to her and stopped the very angry Luna in her tracks.

"I'm so sorry about Percy, he's an insensitive idiot that doesn't understand feelings," Ginny said desperately. Percy always seemed to ruin sighed and sat down on the withered grass.

"It's not your fault," Luna said quietly, "But do you think that I'm a lunatic also?" Ginny was rather taken aback by this question, but answered right away.

"Of course not Luna, you are a genius and you are the most amazing buddy that I could ask for," Ginny replied firmly. Luna then burst into tears and tackled Ginny with a hug. Ginny, startled, awkwardly patted Luna on the back.

"You are the best friend I ever had!" Luna sobbed, pulling away. Ginny then stood up.

"What are you doing?" Luna asked in confusion.

Ginny grinned evilly, "I'm going to tell Mum how Percy called you a lunatic and made you cry and get Percy in big trouble. To be quite honest, Mum loves you." Luna immediately brightened with the same evil grin. She scrubbed the tears from her eyes and stood up.

"You are a genius," Luna stated bluntly, "Do I look like I've been crying?" Ginny considered the question.

"Sort of, but that's good because it proves that we aren't faking to get Percy in trouble," Ginny reasoned, "Let's go, it's at least a thirty minute walk." However, before the girls could go anywhere, Cedric Diggory can around the bend, carrying a bag of oranges, presumably fresh from the village market. Cedric stopped when he saw Luna's post-cry face.

"What's wrong Luna?" Cedric asked in concern. Luna shifted awkwardly, so Ginny decided to answer for her.

"My brother Percy was being a brat to her," Ginny explained to the 13 year old. Fred and George had talked about him sometimes. The Ravenclaw was apparently a very good seeker, but could not get on the team that year. Ginny had only seen him a couple of times at the market. Some of the other girls thought he was cute, but Ginny simply didn't see it. But he was nice.

"Do you need some tea? That's what Mum does whenever..." Cedric offered kindly. Luna smiled graciously.

"Not this time, Cedric, but thanks for the offer," Luna said. Cedric nodded.

"Well, I'm here if you need anything," Cedric reminded her. Luna nodded, and Cedric continued to his house. Ginny turned to Luna, who was blushing slightly. Ginny rolled her eyes. It seemed that even Luna wasn't exempt from crushes.

"Shall we go?" Ginny asked cordially. Luna nodded, blinking away her blush. The two girls began on the trek to the Weasley's house, which was a good 1.5 miles away.

"So, you like Cedric," Ginny ventured. Luna looked startled. She hadn't expected anyone to pick up on it.

"I thought I was being subtle," Luna muttered, "Do you think Cedric noticed" Ginny shook her head and chuckled.

"Nah, boys are oblivious. Trust me, I have six brothers," Ginny reasoned. Luna had to agree with that. For the rest of the walk, the girls maintained small talk about this and that. They had finally reached the Burrow when Ginny turned to Luna.

"Quick, look really upset," Ginny urged. Luna complied, Ginny set her face to look angry, and the girls entered the Burrow.

Ronald was the first to notice them. He lept up from his seat. "Finally, we can start the awards ceremony," Ronald said. He then turned to yell up the stairs, " Guys, Ginny's here!" Everybody came down from their respective private places, ready to start the awards, but Ginny held up her hand to stop them.

"Percy, apologize to Luna," Ginny said angrily. Mum's eyebrows went through the roof. She had never known Ginerva to lie, but what could Percy, the angel that he is, do to offend Luna?

Percy however, stuck his nose into the air and said, "And what exactly should I apologize for?" Ginny made big show of rolling her eyes while Luna fake sniffled in the background.

"For calling her a lunatic and making her cry," Ginny huffed. Molly turned to Percy in surprise.

"Is this true, Percy Ignatius Weasley?" Mum asked severely. Percy gulped and looked down at his toes.

"Yeah," he muttered, "But Luna summoned cup of punch and threw it in my face." Before Mum could respond to that, Dad lept up from his seat in surprise.

"You can already do wandless magic?" Dad asked in surprise. Luna nodded.

"Nonverbal magic also," Ginny volunteered, "But that's not the point!" Dad nodded, getting back on track. Luna then turned to Percy.

"I threw that in your face because you were being inconsiderate about other's needs and you needed a wake up call," Luna said serenely. Ginny nodded vigorously.

"And it also was because you insulted her father's business," Ginny added. Mum took all of this in. She couldn't see Percy being so insensitive, but all of the evidence pointed towards him and Ginny and Luna would have no reason to lie. Mum took a deep breath, put on her angry face, and turned to Percy, who withered under her glare.

"You are grounded for a week for insensitivity and rudeness, Percy. Go to your room," Mum said angrily and pointed up the stairs. Percy slunk, ashamed, up the stairs. He hated when Ginerva made up lies to make him look bad.

Downstairs, Fred and George high-fived.

"Never

"Ever-"

"Thought that Percikins would get in trouble," Fred and George said together. They then hugged Ginny and Luna before Mum threatened to ground them too. Luna and Ginny let the Burrow after Dad said that she didn't have stay for the ceremony. Luna turned to Ginny with a large grin on her face.

"Was that a good enough cheer up for you," Ginny said teasingly. Luna nodded happily and the girls skipped back through the heat to go weave more daisy chains.


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: Hey, I'm back. Excitement, I know. This chapter does mainly focus on Bill Weasley, but I think he's cool, so deal with it. Not J.K. Rowling.**

Ginny was reading. Not some stupid old romance novel stolen from Charlie's room. No, some of those were totally not appropriate for her age. Charlie had such weird obsessions that, if Mum found out about, he would be figuratively dead.

This book was one that Luna had lent to her. It was The Exorcist by William Peter Blatty. It was bloody terrifying and definitely not appropriate for a ten year old. Ginny now could not sleep for at least a week. But she kept on reading against her better judgement. She was just in too deep at this point. From what she could tell, Luna never had that problem. She was actually able to stop reading _It_ when it got too scary.

By now, it was 1:00 AM, and Ginny was still reading. It was either that, or fall asleep with dreams of, well, for lack of better terms, horror. She was now at chapter seventeen. Suddenly, Ginny heard somebody coming up the stairs. She squealed in fright very quietly and dove under the covers. The footsteps were getting closer, before stopping at Ginny's door.

The door was then creaked open quietly by somebody who Ginny could not make out in the dark (She had turned the bed side lamp off).

"Hey, Gin," A quiet voice whispered. Ginny lept up from the bed in surprise.

"Bill!" She cried. And, sure enough, it was him, with his long hair and pierced ear. Ginny rushed to hug him, but he shushed her.

"Mum and Dad don't know that I'm home yet," Bill explained quietly, "I figured that you would be the only one awake, and I want to surprise the family tomorrow morning." Ginny nodded in understanding.

"So, you want to plan a surprise?" Ginny asked, "If so, I'm not sure if you would be the best person for that. Luna is way better." Bill paused in thought, as though searching for something.

"You know, when I came in, I think I saw the light on in her room, or what I can assume is her room. I have an odd feeling that she is awake also, reading a scary novel," Bill thought aloud. Ginny stared at him in wonder.

"How do you know that?" She demanded. Bill smiled and went to turn on the lamp again, so that the pair was not left in the dark.

"A friend of mine taught me a bit of legilimency," Bill explained, "Back in Egypt." He was now staring out the window, squinting hard. "That's her room up top, right Gin?" Ginny nodded in confirmation.

"The light is definitely on in there," Bill muttered.

Suddenly, they heard other footsteps on the stairs. Bill pointed his wand at the lamp, turning it off. He then pointed his wand at the staircase, saying," _Muffliato."_ Ginny felt terrified, having experienced one person coming mysteriously up the stairs that night.

The door then burst open.

It was Luna.

"Hey, Luna!" Ginny whispered, "What are you doing here? It's-" She checked the clock,"1;24." Luna shrugged and Bill relit the lamp.

"I just get a feeling sometimes," Luna said. Ginny furrowed her brow in confusion.

"I'm just going to not comment on how you got into our house at one in the morning," Bill stated. Luna smiled.

"Thank you, and I'm pretty sure that you needed me here," Luna said bluntly. Bill cleared his throat.

"Yeah, um, I wanted to surprise the family, and stuff," Bill said uncomfortably. Luna nodded.

"I think that the best thing you could do is just show up at the kitchen table drinking coffee in the morning," Luna considered. Bill pondered that.

"Yes, that does sound like a pretty good idea," Bill agreed. The wind howled against the windows in a haunting fashion. Bill noticed that both girls looked at the window in fright. He smiled slightly. Of course they would be afraid of odd and loud sounds. Both had just read terrifying horror novels and would not be getting to bed anytime soon with the plot lines in mind.

"How about we all go downstairs until the others wake up and toast some marshmallows by the fire? I can cast a silencing charm so we could essentially blast some Queen and nobody would know," Bill suggested. The two young faces before him lit up with excitement. Bill grinned.

"I'll get the radio, silencing charms, and marshmallows," Bill said, "You girls come down when you are ready, and be quiet when coming down the stairs."

Once Bill had gone downstairs, Luna turned to Ginny excitedly.

"Your brother is so cool," Luna exclaimed quietly. Ginny grinned widely, before faltering.

"Won't your dad be worried about you?" Ginny asked. Luna sighed.

"I left a note for him. He understands," Luna said. Ginny shrugged. She did do the same thing all the time with Mum. She then gestured to the staircase, in an "after you" fashion. Luna smiled again and tiptoed down the stairs.

For the rest of the morning, Bill, Luna, and Ginny drank hot chocolate, listened to Queen's Greatest Hits, and roasted marshmallows. It was way better then lying in bed for hours, trying to get some form of rest after reading material that was definitely not suitable for children.

Bill and Luna immediately hit it off, finding interests in many of the same things. Luna had lately been especially expressing interest in being a curse breaker, and Bill happily obliged to answering her questions. Ginny happily watched them while sipping her tea (She did not enjoy hot chocolate).

At 5:30 in the morning, Dad finally came downstairs, rubbing his eyes tiredly. He received quite a shock when he saw Bill there, sipping his morning tea, listening to Radio Gaga with Ginny and Luna, who were eating oatmeal.

"Bill!" Dad nearly shouted, racing down the stairs to embrace his eldest son, "You weren't due for another two weeks!"

"Yes, well, they let me off early. Griphook felt especially nice yesterday," Bill explained.

The next hour or so was a messy jumble of embraces and catching up. Nobody questioned Luna's presence there, and she was glad of it.

Except for Ginny.

Ginny stayed by Luna's side for the entire morning.


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Hey I'm back. I'm thinkng of doing more one shots. I'll still update this fan fiction weekly because I'm kind of committed at this point. But I've already done some one shots in my drafting notebook and on my phone, so it won't be that hard. Whatever. You didn't come here to read my rambles. Still not J.K. Rowling, and let's get into this. Also, I just posted another fan fiction that I will be updating fairly often. Please check it out. I'm desperate.**

Luna was sitting in her bedroom, thinking and staring at the ceiling. By now, she had painted Ginny's portrait on the ceiling. It had taken her three days to get everything right and to correctly cast the spells that made to portrait lifelike wandlessly. She made it look easy, but wandless magic was really hard.

After Luna had finally reappeared from her painting spree, Ginny had asked where she had gone for the past three days. Not in a provacative manner, but in a curious way. Luna had blushed and muttered, "Nothing," before changing the topic to the sunflower's insane recent growth by the Diggory's house. Luna didn't want to come across as creepy.

She was so intent on staring at the portrait above that she didn't notice the knock at the door, or the pitter patter of feet. All she was thinking was, "I could have done better on the eyes. They aren't completely proportional. Just 0.2 centimeter to the left and they would be fine."

The door was opened and Luna didn't even bother to look over her shoulder at it. It was probably her father, checking to make sure she didn't inhale paint fumes too much and die. But then the person's shadow fell across her lap and Luna realized that it wasn't daddy after all.

"That's a pretty good painting, Luna. Mum would probabbly beg you to paint a portrait of the Weasleys if she knew how talented you were," Ginny mused.

Luna lept up from her bed, bleary eyed and embarassed.

"Hey, Ginny, what are you doing here?" Luna asked, blushing, "It's-" She looked at the clock- "9:26 at night." Ginny sighed in frusteration before ploppiing down onto Luna's periwinkle bed.

"Mum was trying to set me up with Roger Davies," Ginny explained. When Luna furrowed her brow in confusion, Ginny explained further, "His parents and him were coming over for a dinner party and Mum was just like, 'Oh, Roger, you like Quidditch also? My daughter Ginerva is a fan of the Holyhead Harpies. Go, fall in love.'" Ginny rolled her eyes.

"Mum and her matchmaking. My brothers are so lucky that they didn't go through this," Ginny muttered before turning to look at Luna, "She even showed me the wedding planning book last month. That thing is bloody terrifying. Either way, I don't like Roger. He's too stuck up for his own good. Now that I think about, it, I've never really liked any boys. They are just too idiotic for their own good."

Luna stared out the window in thought before coming up with an idea.

"Have you told your mum how you feel about her matchmaking? If you just say, 'Hey, this is annoying, back off,' she will probably back off," Luna sugested.

Ginny shrugged. "She would probably not listen, but it's worth a shot. Don't get me wrong, I love Mum very dearly, but I hate how she pressures me." Luna nodded in sympathy.

"I can have a bit of a chat with her if you would like," Luna offered in her deepest, most intimidating voice. Ginny let out a bark of hysterical laughter.

"Okay then, if you want to hear a bunch of, 'oh, darlings,'" Ginny smirked. Luna then made to get out of her seat and walk towards the door, and Ginny paled.

"Oh, you are serious," Ginny realized. By now, Luna was out the door. "Okay, I suppose that I should follow." Ginny made her waydown the spiral staircase that she remembered so well, through the highlighter kitchen, and out into the starry night. It was fairly warm outside, and Ginny would have stared at the view for much longer, had it not been for Luna's voice drifting out of nowhere.

Ginny realized that Luna was lying on the grass, also staring at the sky.

"It's interesting, isn't it?" Luna said softly, "Those stars could be blown up for all we know, yet we are still able to admire them." Ginny sat down beside her and didn't question that statement. It didn't completely make sense to her, but it was clear that Luna was trying to get at a bigger picture. Ginny decided to take a shot at guessing.

"Are you saying that we don't look at things for what they are, but what we think they are? Or are you making a reference to there being many layers to a person?" Ginny guessed. Luna turned on her shoulder to look Ginny directly in the eye.

"That has to be the first time you guessed correctly when I tried to make a point," Luna stated. Ginny scoffed.

"That is definitely not the first time," Ginny said indignantly. Luna smiled knowingly and tapped her head.

"Remember Ginny," Luna whispered dramatically, "I...see...all!" Ginny giggled in a way that she hadn't done since she was seven.

"Can we just say here forever, without a care in the world?" Ginny asked, taking ahold of Luna's hand.

"I doubt it," Luna said reasonably, "We would probably die." Ginny laughed and turned to face Luna.

"Thanks," Ginny said quietly, "For everything." Luna shrugged and smiled in acknowledgment. And it was in that position where the girls stayed for quite awhile, laying on the grass, staring at stars, and talking. Until it became far too late to be outside without anybody worrying. The girls made their goodbyes and Luna returned to the position she had been in hours earlier. Except this time, she didn't feel awkward when looking at the portrait.


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Who's ready for another chapter and another time warp? I had a ton of fun with the sorting ceremony in this chapter. It was going to be way longer, but I decided to split it. Still not J.K. Rowling.**

The next two years were a blur. Ronald went off to Hogwarts, and Ginny was stuck with Mum. Luckily, Luna was there and Ginny would hang out with her nearly every day. Fred and George wrote her weekly with news of their crazy escapades. They would be in fourth year next year. It was crazy.

Charlie was now in Romania, working with dragons. He wrote periodically to Ginny , as did Bill, who was in Egypt working as a Gringotts curse breaker. Percy was still acting odd and pompous.

Ronald was still being a brat. He had become friends with Harry Potter and bragged all summer long. Ginny found this to be a tad frustrating. Harry was a person, and she didn't brag about being friends with Luna. Ginny also had heard him talk about a girl named Hermione Granger and suspected that Ronald had a bit of a crush on her. He wasn't the only one who had a crush.

Harry Potter also came to stay for the summer. He was quite nice and rather polite. Ginny had no idea what he saw in Ronald.

Ginny was beginning to have a crush on Luna. She didn't know how or why, because Mum never mentioned girls liking girls when she talked about weddings and stuff. But Luna would never, ever like her back and that was just life. As far as Ginny knew, Luna still had a crush on Cedric.

Ginny hated feeling jealous.

But it was now her year for Hogwarts. She could finally get away from endlessly crocheting with Mum and just learn magic. They had gone to Diagon Alley two weeks previously and Ginny had gotten her wand. It was yew wood, dragon heartstring, and fourteen inches long. Luna's was redwood, unicorn tail hair, and fifteen and a half inches. It also had a rather pretty design of leaves along the handle.

Ginny received most of her books second hand, but she didn't really care. Not at all as long as she got to use them.

Then the day finally arrived. Luna and Ginny made plans to meet at Kings Cross. The Weasley family was running very late, and nearly didn't make it in time. But Ginny was able to get on the train just in time, Harry and Ronald got on her heels. Or, she thought so. Ginny didn't actually see them get on the train, but she was sure that they were right behind her.

Ginny awkwardly lugged her trunk through the hall, avoiding people's eyes until she found Luna's compartment. She received that same old flip of the stomach she had whenever she saw Luna for the past few months. Luna was the only one in the compartment, and she was reading some newly released horror novel. As it turns out, Diagon Alley had a muggle bookstore.

"Hey Luna," Ginny said, hauling her luggage to the to the rack above the seats. Luna looked up, startled.

"Hey Ginny, I didn't see you there," Luna said pleasantly, "How have you been in the nine hours since I saw you last?" Ginny chuckled and sat down.

"Fairly good. We were very close to missing the train this morning," Ginny responded. Luna laughed lightly. The Weasleys were notorious for their poor time management skills.

"Speaking of being late, have you seen Ronald pass this compartment at all?I'm not sure if he got on the train," Ginny questioned. Luna merely shook her head, and Ginny sighed. The boys had to be at the back of the train somewhere. Just then, Fred and George, plus their friend Lee Jordan entered the compartment.

"Hello, ladies. Mind if we crash in here?" George asked comically. Ginny and Luna giggled and nodded. For another hour or so, the five hung out and maintained pleasant conversation. The Trolley Witch came by and Ginny was mature and only got one cauldron cake. Luna didn't get anything, having brought a garden salad with her. Ginny happily ate the beef and spinach sandwich Mum had made for her, while Fred, George, and Lee went all out on the Ginger Newts.

By now, the conversation had turned to Quidditch. Luna was not very interested and decided to stare dreamily out the window. However, when she looked outside at the passing hills, her jaw dropped.

Noticing that Luna had paled several shades, Ginny was about to ask her what was wrong, before seeing what Luna was staring at.

"THOSE IDIOTS!" Ginny yelled. Fred, George, and Lee nearly jumped out of their skin in fright. Several people in other compartments poked their heads out of their door in annoyance.

The idiots mentioned previously, Harry and Ronald, were flying Dad's car. Without permission. In the plain sight of day. The three older boys saw what was going on and pressed their faces against the windows, but the car had already disappeared.

"Inspired," Lee claimed, "Those second years are insane. They're going to beat you out for mutual best pranker this year, if you aren't careful."

"As if," George snorted, "Mum's going to kill Ickle Ronnikins, though. A howler at the least." George then turned to Ginny and said, "Gin, I'd recommend getting out of the Great Hall by 8:15 tomorrow, which is standard mail delivery time. I know how you hate loud noises." Ginny nodded and thanked him. George was definitely the more considerate of the twins.

Eventually, regular conversation was able to resume, despite Harry and Ron's definite punishment in the back of everybody's minds. The talk turned to the Sorting Ceremony.

"I'm going to be in Ravenclaw," Luna said dreamily, "Mummy and daddy's house." Lee grinned.

"I started dating a Ravenclaw last year," he said conversationally. When Fred and George's eyes bugged out of their heads, Lee hastily said, "Kidding, kidding. How about you Ginny?" Ginny chose her next words very carefully.

"Maybe Gryffindor, maybe Ravenclaw. It isn't up to me, though," Ginny said. Thankfully, Fred and George didn't make any statements about how all Weasleys are Gryffindors. An announcement then came over the intercom. Ginny didn't even know that wizards had intercoms.

"We will be arriving in fifteen minutes to Hogsmeade station. Please be ready to disembark," a disembodied voice said. Lee, George, and Fred left the compartment so the girls could change into their robes privately.

"Are you nervous?" Ginny asked nervously.

"If I wasn't, I'd be superhuman," Luna responded, and Ginny had to agree with that point.

Finally, finally, finally, they disembarked from the train, made it across the lake without any major meltdowns, into the Great Hall, and into a line, ready to be sorted. Professor McGonnagall brought out an old hat and placed it on a stool. To even Luna's surprise, it burst into song. It had a very raspy voice.

 _You are not the first group of students_

 _To pass through these oak doors._

 _Of course, that is evident_

 _And sorting you is such a chore._

 _Don't be nervous, don't be afraid._

 _I don't bite._

 _I just yell very loudly_

 _and may give you a fright._

 _All I'm here to do_

 _Is place the students in_

 _Either Gryffindor or Hufflepuff_

 _or Ravenclaw or Slytherin._

 _In Gryffindor,_

 _brave souls are going places._

 _In Ravenclaw,_

 _the clever ones will always win the races._

 _In Hufflepuff,_

 _those who are loyal will excel._

 _And to Slytherin_

 _go those who have an ambition to fulfill._

 _So place me gently upon on your head_

 _and I'll have a look at your thoughts_

 _You'll go through your school years_

 _and study until you can see spots._

"Well, that wasn't creepy at all," Ginny thought. She quickly noticed that not all sortings took the same amount of time. Colin Creevey went to Gryffindor almost immediately, while others such as Sarah Jonson took almost three minutes to get to Sytherin. Suddenly, it was Luna's turn.

Luna stepped up to the stool almost like she was floating on air and placed the hat on her head. It obscured all of her head except for her chin.

L: Hello Mr. Sorting Hat.

SH: Oh, you are very polite. Now, where to sort you...

L: How exactly are you able to talk?

SH: Oh that is a long kept secret.

L: It can't be that much of a secret, because there are at least seven examples of talking hats in the past century that I can name off the top of my head. Ha. Puns.

SH: Aren't you a smart one. Not Slytherin, no...

L: Basically. Do you know where I can find resources about this topic in the library?

SH: Okay, let's skip this and just put you in RAVENCLAW!

Luna smiled and skipped to the table clad in bronze and blue. She waved to Ginny, who appeared to be sweating in nervousness. She turned around to face the sorting, before seeing Cedric waiting to high five her. She smiled and obliged. Her crush had passed a long time ago after she was lying to herself about being straight.

The sorting was moving along rather fast. By now, the names were in the "T" section. Then it was Ginny's turn.

Ginny walked up to the stand, thoroughly stressed out. She placed the hat on her head, where it obscured everything down to her large ears. Before the sorting hat could say anything, there came a loud crash from outside. However, Ginny could dwell on it no longer.

SH: Oh, very interesting, interesting indeed. How many more Weasleys will there be until Hogwarts explodes?

G: I'm just going to ignore that last part. I'm the last Weasley from this family.

SH: All of your family was in Gryffindor, but I'm not sure if that is the best place for you.

G: Just put me in Gryffindor, please.

SH: Nah, that doesn't fit you. Don't feel pressured by your family to be like them.

G: But I don't want to be a disappointment!

SH: You wont be. Not Hufflepuff, no...

G: Okay then.

SH: Wow, you bend to other people's wills fairly easily. Okay, you are not a Slytherin. Better be...

G: I don't like loud noises.

SH: Thanks for letting me know, I'll try to be quieter. RAVENCLAW!


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: The description of the Ravenclaw common room may not match up exactly with the books, but this is fan fiction. It can be whatever it wants to be. Still not J.K. Rowling.**

Ginny walked to the Ravenclaw table, before realizing that a car alarm could be heard from outside. It was probably his idiot brother plus Harry. Professor Snape stalked out of the hall with an almost gleeful look in his eyes as Ginny sat down next to Luna and Cedric. Professor Dumbldore stood up.

"I only have a few words for you. Have fun and tuck in," Professor Dumbledore said, waving his hands so the feast would begin.

"Well," Cedric said, "Welcome to Ravenclaw. Wit beyond measure is mans greatest pleasure." Cedric then smiled widely and did jazz hands. Luna snorted and Ginny rolled her eyes jokingly. Cedric could be such a dweeb sometimes. No wonder Luna liked him.

"That phrase is totally overused," Ginny said, while Cedric grinned, before that grin turned to confusion as he looked over Ginny's shoulder.

"Snape seems mad about something. Or maybe glad. I can't tell," Cedric said quietly, pointing behind Ginny. Ginny and Luna turned around to see Professor Snape whisper something to Professors McGonnagall and Dumbledore. Both looked angry and followed Professor Snape out of the hall. And then Luna said exactly what Ginny was thinking. She had connected the dots also.

"Harry and Ronald are figuratively dead," Luna stated bluntly. Cedric looked at her, confused. So he hadn't seen the car. Luna looked at Ginny for confirmation and Ginny shrugged. It was bound to get out eventually. Harry was famous and Ronald was famous for having poor judgement.

"Harry and Ginny's brother, Ronald, flew a flying car to Hogwarts when they missed the train. That's why there was just a car alarm blaring. They'll be expelled for sure," Luna said. Cedric thunked his head on the table.

"Even I wasn't that much of an idiot at twelve years old," Cedirc groaned, "And I have to disagree with that last statement, Luna. Professor Dumbldore lets Harry and his friends get away with a ton of stuff that should be against the rules." Ginny had to concede to that point. Ronald had told her all about his first year at Hogwarts. Even if only a tenth of it was true, he definitely should have been expelled several times over. Ronald was such a bad influenceon Harry.

Then, Ginny noticed Hermione, Ronald's other friend, approaching the table. She was nice and very brilliant.

"Hey, Ginny, Luna, Cedric," Hermione said in greeting, "Good job on making Ravenclaw. Do you have any clue where Ron and Harry are?" Ginny really did not want to tell her. From what she knew, Hermione would go insane on the boys for such blatant rule breaking. So Luna did it for her.

"Harry and Ronald flew a flying car to school," Luna sighed bluntly. Hermione paled several shades and looked like she was about to faint, before running back to the Gryffindor table.

"Well, in other news," Luna said, trying to break the tension, "I sold my first painting at the village market." Ginny gasped and hugged her.

And so it was that they continued the feast, relaxing and joking around with Cedric. He was actually pretty nice, and his Professor McGonnagall impression was spot on. But then it was time for announcements and for bed. Ginny and Luna followed the Ravenclaw prefects up the many, many fights of stairs to Ravenclaw tower. The other Ravenclaws in their year were really nice.

They reached the top of the tower, there was already a crowd around the door. One of the Ravenclaws turned to the prefect, Sara Clever (No, that's actually what her name is. How fitting), and pulled her to hear the riddle that seemed to coming from an eagle. She answered the eagles's riddle, which Luna and Ginny were unable to hear. Sara let everybody else in and turned to face the first years, along with her fellow male prefect, Robert Philips-Landon.

"Hello, all first years," Robert said, "Welcome to Ravenclaw. Our animal is the eagle for some reason. To enter the common room, which is where we are now, you must knock on the eagle door knocker and it will give you a riddle. If you answer correctly, you will be allowed to enter. However, I would strongly recommend checking your bag several times before you leave for class so you don't have to spend forever on a riddle that is hard to solve and be late. Anyways, I'm sure you are all tired, so please enter. Girls dormitories are to the right, boys are to the left. We have already solved the riddle for your convenience." Ginny and Luna entered the common room with the other first years.

Everything was some shade of blue. There were large windows letting in loads of natural light. There were bookshelves as high as the ceiling and ladders to reach them. There were many study tables and comfortable couches that people were lounging on. And, in the center of it all, was a statue of Rowena Ravenclaw with a tiara like object perched on her head.

Instead of sticking around to mingle and admire everything, Ginny and Luna went straight up to the dormitories. Inside of these were beds with blue silk everything. The canopies were a very nice blue tulle. Their were four four-poster beds in all, with four trunks in the middle of the room. Ginny and Luna took their trunks and put them in front of their desired beds, which were right next to each other. Both had brought posters to hang up over their beds.

As Ginny was putting up a poster of Gwenog Jones, she looked up and saw Luna hanging up a rainbow flag in front of her bed.

"What does that flag stand for," Ginny asked curiously, sitting on her bed. Man, that was a super comfortable bed. Luna sat down on her bed and sighed, so Ginny couldn't be the only one who felt that way.

"It stands for the LGBT+ community and pride," Luna explained. Ginny furrowed her brow in confusion. Luna probably realized that Ginny was confused because she explained further, "For example, the B in LGBT+ stands for bisexual. I'm bisexual, which means that I like girls and boys." Ginny had never heard of being bisexual. She didn't know why Mum hadn't mentioned what that meant when she was talking about marriages.

"What does the rest of it stand for?" Ginny asked curiously.

Luna and Ginny discussed sexual orientation and gender until the other two girls in their dorm came upstairs. They introduced themselves as Beth Hubert and Jessica Whitman before crashing onto their beds. Luna and Ginny took this as a signal to go to bed. The next day would certainly be long and hectic.


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Still not J.K. Rowling. If you like Molly and Ronald Weasley, you probably should not read this.**

Harry and Ronald didn't get expelled. Ginny heard as soon as she came down into the Ravenclaw common room. Ginny was swarmed by people, demanding to know what happened, but Ginny shut them down rather quickly.

"Yes, I know, Ronald's an idiot, get over it," Ginny said in frustration, "Now, I need to go down to breakfast before a Howler comes from my mum." Ginny then pushed through the crowd with Luna and rushed down to breakfast.

"Luna, what time is it?" Ginny asked distractedly. Luna looked at her three watches. She had taken to carrying around three watches because her watch had once shut down, and she had ended up being three hours early to something or other.

"They all match up this time for some reason. Must be Hogwarts magic. But yeah, it's 8:05, we need to pick up the pace," Luna said. Ginny and her raced down the stairs, and ran into the Great Hall five minutes later. She and Luna then began to shovel toast into their mouths. Cedric came by and sat down.

"Wanting to get out really fast before mail?" Cedric asked. Ginny nodded, and he said, "Okay, if you wait by your first period class for five minutes of transition time (you get twenty minutes anyways) I can get your mail to you girls. Also, here's your schedule." Ginny and Luna thanked him and Luna checked her watch again and looked at the ceiling. Her eyes widened, and she nudged Ginny.

"Ginny, let's run. Owls are here," Luna advised. Ginny finished up her toast and stood up. The two girls ran out of the hall and could here the Great Hall explode with the sound of Molly Weasley's voice. Ginny and Luna looked at each other and sighed.

"Thanks George and we'll be early to," Ginny checked her timetable, "Charms with the Gryffindors." Luna laughed lightly, before losing her grin.

"Where the heck is Charms classroom?" Luna asked, looking around as though expecting a portal to a new dimension to open up and take her there, causing Ginny to crack up.

"I'm pretty sure that it is on the third floor. Let's go," Ginny said, beginning to climb the stairs. Within two minutes and much running, Ginny and Luna found the Charms corridor and, seeing that they were about forty five minutes early (and that Professor Flitwick was still at breakfast), they decided to sit down outside of the classroom door and do some last minute reviews of their textbooks. They were Ravenclaws after all.

But twenty seven minutes later, Ronald and his friend Harry (Hermione was probably ignoring them out of annoyance) came down the corridor, clearly going to Transfiguration, judging by what Ginny knew of the layout of Hogwarts classrooms. Ronald saw Ginny and stopped Harry.

"I thought all Weasley's were supposed to be Gryffindors," Ronald said waspishly. Luna glared at him, and he stepped back an inch or two. Ginny sighed and stood up to be at his level. She surprised herself that he was shorter than her at this point. That was fairly surprising.

"Not anymore, I suppose," Ginny responded calmly, "And I would cut this stupid act, because it seems to be making everybody mad, including your crush." Ronald fumed and stalked of with Harry. Harry gave Ginny an apologetic look and, once they had turned the corner, Luna burst out laughing

"That was brilliant, Ginny," Luna said, wiping the tears from her eyes. Ginny smirked and continued to read her textbook. Ten minutes later, Professor Flitwick came by and looked surprised to see the two first years sitting there.

"Oh, uh, you can go inside and get your textbooks out," Professor Flitwick said. Luna and Ginny entered and chose their seats, which were right at the front. In the next couple minutes, the classroom filled with the other Ravenclaws and Gryffindors. Colin Creevey, a very over excited boy, sat next to Ginny, and Beth Hubert sat next to Luna. Ginny did not like her very much. She seemed pretty annoying and seemed to be talking about Luna behind her back. But these were their permanent seats, and Ginny supposed that she would have to deal with this.

The Charms lesson was very interesting. Professor Flitwick called roll and explained his expectations for the class. Then, he went over the very basics of Charms and why they work. Most of the Gryffindors looked pretty bored (Except for Colin. He was excited about everything), but the Ravenclaws seemed to be fascinated. It reminded Ginny of what she knew of physics.

After class, Ginny and Luna stayed behind outside of the door, waiting for Cedric. After all, their next class was right down the hall. Cedric came by and dropped off the letter before hurrying off to Potions. He liked to be early, as to not arise Professor Snape's wrath.

"We have ten minutes, can you read it out while we walk?" Luna asked. Ginny agreed and they began walking down the hall. Ginny unfurled the letter and began to read.

 _Dear Ginerva,_

 _We have heard from Ronald, who has heard from Hermione, that you have been sorted into Ravenclaw. This is very uncharacteristic of you, and I am unsure of what you said to the Sorting Hat to get you placed there. All Weasley's have been Gryffindors, and I recommend asking for a re-sorting. People have done that in the past, and have most of the time been sorted into different houses. We need to keep up our face of being a brave and loyal family for social appearance. Do not slack of in your classes._

 _-Mum_

Luna wolf whistled. "Darn, that was cold," She said. Ginny sighed and raked her fingers through her hair in frustration. And Ronald wondered why she didn't like Mum very much. Nearly all of the Weasley siblings had experienced her prejudice and bugging at least one time in their life.

"Well, I'm not getting re-sorted,"Ginny said with finality, "Let's get to Transfiguration before we suffer through the wrath of an angry Professor McGonnagall." Luna grinned, and the two rushed down the hallway to Transfiguration.


	12. Chapter 12

**A/N: Sorry for the late update. Anyways, I'm not J.K. Rowlings.**

The rest of their day was pretty cool. Transfiguration was with the Hufflepuffs and was amazing. There was ton of note taking that was super complicated, but Ginny and Luna did not really care. The practical portion was awesome enough. They were all given toothpicks and were told to turn them into needles. Ginny and Luna were the only ones who were able to make the the full transformation by the end of the class period, the only ones coming close being Aubrey Georges, a Hufflepuff. It seemed that Ginny's inner Ravenclaw was coming out.

The other lessons they had that day were Herbology, Potions, and History of Magic. Herbology was nice. Professor Sprout was a nice old witch who made sure that everybody felt comfortable and confident. It would actually be pretty cool to be in Hufflepuff. They even had an alleged marshmallow night. Eventually, they would get to taking care of snargaluff pods, but they were now working with basic bean sprouts for the next two class periods.

History of Magic was just plain boring. Ginny had no clue how Professor Binns was still teaching after death. That had to be some sort of illegal, as Ginny was almost positive that he was not being paid. She and Luna were some of the few who were actually able to stay fully alert during the class period. It was even harder because it was a double period, which they had every two class periods.

Potions was, well, interesting to say the least. I had heard some bad stuff about Professor Snape from Ronald and Harry over the summer. They seemed to not like him one bit. Professor Snape was allegedly incredibly biased. Ginny was interested to see what Potions lessons were actually like.

When Ginny and Luna entered the classroom, they sat down right at the front of the classroom. The tables were in pairs of two with a cauldron for each. A couple minutes later, the class was full with first year Ravenclaws and Hufflepuffs were all seated and waiting for Professor Snape to appear. He finally billowed in a few minutes later. He gave a brief and dramatic overview of the class and then told us to brew a potion based on the instructions on the board. Ginny frowned and shared a look with Luna. She seemed to be thinking the same thing. Ginny raised her hand. Professor Snape looked up from his desk almost immediately.

"What do you need, Miss Weasley? I thought my instructions were perfectly clear?" Professor Snape asked menacingly. Ginny steeled herself for any anger inducing comments.

"Are you going to explain the instructions to us, sir?" Ginny asked politely. Professor Snape sneered and seemed to want to make a degrading comment, but held back, probably because Ginny was polite. He settled for shaking his head menacingly. When he looked back down, Ginny raised her eyebrows at Luna, who was boiling water in the cauldron. It seemed like bad teaching to just tell students to do whatever.

Ginny and Luna continued to brew the potion. It was fairly easy, just a simple cure for boils potion. This would sure be useful in a school full of awkward preteens and teens. At the end of the class period, Professor Snape collected the potions and actually did not criticize Ginny and Luna's like he did for Roberto's and Sophie's. Overall, there would be some issues with Potions that were blaring in her face, but it would be an okay class over all. There was still no safety measures taken. Ginny would have to take that up with another teacher. Professor Snape never would listen to her concerns.

And then the day was over. Ginny and Luna decided to relax outside by the lake while they finished their homework. It was a nice day, and the grass was refreshingly cool. Ginny and Luna finished their homework within the hour, with the potions essay taking the longest. They ended up having a long discussion about why flowers should actually grow during winter at Hogwarts, until Ginny spotted Percy off writing in a book.

"But there are clearly climate changing charms in the wards th-" Luna said, being interrupted by Ginny standing up. Percy never really tended to write stuff that wasn't for school, and it seemed a bit odd that he would be writing in a diary, or drawing for that matter. Percy's drawings were awful.

Percy saw Ginny approaching (Luna still didn't like him, and decided to say behind) and immediately blushed and slammed the book shut. He had been getting even more nervous lately. Then again, it was his OW.L. year, and most of the people in his grade would have nervous breakdowns.

"Hey, Perce," Ginny said brightly. Percy relaxed considerably.

"Hey, sorry Ginny, I thought you were Fred or George for a second," Percy said. Ginny grinned and looked at his book.

"What are you writing?" Ginny questioned. Percy blushed as red as his hair. Ginny decided to leave it at that and just leave him alone. She wished him a good day and left to sit back down with Luna, who suggested that he could have been writing about some sort of love interest. The Wrackspurts around his head apparently told her that. Ginny's eyes made to look out over the lake, and then she noticed that Luna's charm bracelet was missing.

"Luna, did you lose your charm bracelet?" Ginny asked. Luna scoffed and almost denied that outright, but then she looked at her wrist and realized that it was gone.

"My mummy gave that to me! Where did I see it last?" Luna said distractedly. Ginny helped her search for about thirty minutes, retracing all of their steps, but the bracelet was nowhere to be found. They gave up looking soon after and Ginny took to consoling Luna. She had no clue where it could have gone, but she could have sworn that she saw Beth and Jessica hiding smiles behind their hands.


	13. Chapter 13

**A/N: Hey, late-ish update time. Sorry, but I never promised frequent updates. Yes, I know that I changed what was written on the wall in this chapter. Deal with it. Still not J.K. Rowling.**

The next few weeks were a blur. Ginny and Luna attended their classes and got perfect grades on everything, even in Potions. It was difficult for Professor Snape to find stuff that they were doing wrong, as Ginny checked the potions instructions at least five times before they put stuff into the cauldron. It annoyed Professor Snape so much that he had nothing to insult a Weasley with.

Professor Mcgonagall praised Luna very much for being one of the most talented students she had ever seen in Transfiguration. Ginny was exceptionally talented at Transfiguration also, but Luna was already wandlessly transfiguring mice to silverware.

But not all was of Luna's possessions had gone missing. Ginny had very strong suspicions that it was Beth and Jessica stealing her things. Most Ravenclaws thought that Luna was weird, and constantly teased her about her magical creatures, no matter what Ginny tried to do to stop it. Some had even said taken to calling Luna the nickname "Looney."

And so Ginny marched up to Jessica and Beth at the dinner table. It was the Halloween feast, and there was orange confetti and dancing skeletons all over. They stopped their discussion when they saw the very angry Weasley girl standing over them.

"I know that you have been stealing Luna's stuff. I would appreciate if you would return it with an apology," Ginny said firmly. Beth and Jessica shared a look.

"If Looney has lost her stuff, that's not our problem. If she wasn't so far into the clouds, maybe she wouldn't lose things that are important to her," Beth said very icily. Ginny's nostrils flared.

"Her name is Luna. Get it right," Ginny huffed, flipping her hair over her shoulder and storming over to where Luna was sitting, drawing a sketch. Ginny noticed that Ronald was missing, along with Hermione and Harry, but didn't give it much more thought. She looked at Luna's sketch. It was very good. The sketch was Colin Creevey taking pictures of the Giant Squid. Luna must have seen that earlier. Luna noticed Ginny staring and blushed, putting the drawing in the bag.

"So how are you?" Ginny asked. Luna huffed and ran her fingers through her hair. It was tangled, as her hairbrush had disappeared, and she refused to use any other hairbrush.

"I'm getting nervous. I feel so much negative energy surrounding the Great Hall. I think that something bad will happen tonight. I had the same feeling just before Mummy died," Luna sighed. Ginny thought for a moment. Luna was very good at predicting stuff, and Ginny did not want anything bad to happen. She stood up again and offered her hand to Luna. Luna looked at her quizzically.

"We are going to tell Professor Flitwick about this," Ginny said firmly. Luna nodded and they walked up to the staff table. Professor Flitwick seemed surprised to see the two first years. Luna decided to be blunt.

"I feel negative energy flowing all around the Great Hall. I think that something bad is about to happen," Luna said, startling Professor Flitwick very much.

"Uh, nothing is out of order, Miss Lovegood. If you are feeling strange, you should go to the Hospital Wing," Professor Flitwick said, before running off to tell Professor Dumbledore something. Ginny shrugged and her and Luna returned to their seats.

"It was worth a shot," Ginny sighed. Luna nodded and continued to eat her salad. The two maintained pleasant conversation until Professor Dumbledore wished the school goodnight and everybody went upstairs. It was a fairly normal walk until the entire hallway was blocked by a ton of students that weren't normally there. Ginny furrowed her brow. Even she could not see over the crowd, and she was taller than most people. The crowd then parted for the professors to see what had happened, and Ginny and Luna saw what happened.

A cat was hanging up by it's tail. Ginny could tell that it was Mrs. Norris. There was also writing in what appeared to be blood on the wall that said, "The chamber had been opened again. Enemies of the pure of blood, you shall be gone before the son."

Ginny could feel herself pale several shades, and could see Luna pale in her peripheral vision. Several of their classmates began to scream, including Beth. The professors yelled for everybody to go back to their common rooms, and there was a huge stampede. Ginny and Luna made a silent agreement to walk very calmly as to not stress each other out. But right before they could leave, they were stopped by Professor Flitwick. At this point, it was only the two girls and Ronald, Harry, and Hermione left in the hallway, along with most teachers.

"Girls, we need to know more about the odd sensation Miss Lovegood had at dinner. It may be connected to the petrification of Mrs. Norris," Professor Flitwick said. Harry, Ronald, and Hermione looked at Luna, puzzled. They clearly had no clue what had happened. Luna looked straight at Professor Dumbledore when she spoke.

"I entered the Great Hall and I could immediately feel negative energy flowing around all over the place. And that is all," Luna said dreamily. Professor Dumbledore looked confused.

"What do you mean, Miss Lovegood, by negative energy?" The headmaster asked.

"Just standard negative energy. The kind that flows around whenever something bad is about to happen. I felt the same type of energy just before my mother died, so Ginny and I decided to tell Professor Flitwick," Luna said. Ron snorted quietly, clearly skeptical.

"Well, I have learned much about negative energy throughout my adventures," Professor Lockhart said, clearly trying to interject himself into the situation by pretending to know what he was talking about. The professors ignored this. Professor Dumbledore turned to Harry.

"Did you experience a similar sensation before the attack?" Professor Dumbledore asked Harry. Harry shrugged.

"I was just coming back upstairs from the Death Day party and I heard a voice. And that's all. I don't know about any negatve energy," Harry said. Professor Dumbledore sighed

"I may call you to my office to further discuss this negative energy that you felt, Miss Lovegood. You may all go to your common rooms now," Professor Dumbledore said. Ginny and Luna immediately left the hallway and made their way up to the common room, frequently looking over their shoulders. Hogwarts now didn't feel so safe.


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: Still not J.K. Rowling**

For the next few days, the attack was all people could talk about. Muggle borns were scared out of their wits and had taken to travelling around with purebloods wherever they went. Some of the older students were nice about this and offered to escort muggle borns to class. However, some were taking advantage of this, such as an older Gryffindor named Anna Davey. She was selling so called protective amulets that wouldn't protect you from a Nargle, much less the heir of Slytherin. Percy had tried to stop her, but he couldn't do anything, as she kept on vanishing her selling stand as soon as he came around the corner. Ginny found it sick that some were trying to profit off of other people's fear.

Luna was eating her lunch, (tea and spinach and turkey sandwich) waiting for Ginny to come down from the previous lesson, when a rather confused looking older Ravenclaw gave her a grubby scroll. Luna thanked her and undid the message. It read:

Dear Miss Lovegood,

Please come to my office after you finish eating. I will excuse you from your next period class. I would like to discuss the negative energy you mentioned feeling with you on the night of the attack. It is a subject that has greatly interested me and may be crucial to understand what happened that night. Thank you in advance.

Sincerely,

Albus Dumbledore

P.S. I quite like licorice wands.

Luna frowned and swallowed her food. It looked like she would be missing charms today. That was a shame, especially since they were going to be reviewing Wingardium Leviosa today. But she could not ignore a summons from the headmaster himself. She sighed and pulled a bucket of licorice wands out of her bag. Professor Dumbledore must really like them if he put a postscript detailing his love for them. Luna walked up the many flights of stairs and was about to arrive at the headmaster's office when she ran into Ginny. She was carrying a rather large book that she must have gotten from the library. Luna saw that the title was A Beginner's Guide to Wandless Magic.

"Hello, Luna. Where are you going?" Ginny inquired. Luna showed Ginny the summons from Professor Dumbledore.

"Interesting," Ginny said, "I can get your homework and classwork for you and I'll tell Professor Flitwick where you are. You'll tell me everything that happens, right?" Luna nodded.

"Especially if Professor Dumbledore tells me not to tell anybody," Luna confirmed. Ginny laughed and went downstairs to get lunch. Luna got to the entrance of the headmaster's tower and was puzzled of how to enter. There was a giant gargoyle blocking her entrance.

"Excuse me, Mr. Gargoyle?" Luna asked. It turned it's head towards her. A good start. Luna continued, "May I enter the office, please? I have written permission from the headmaster." Luna held up the piece of paper. The gargoyle seemed to think for a moment before moving to reveal a spiral staircase. Luna thanked it and went up the staircase, opening the door to the office once she reached the top. Professor Dumbledore was sitting at his desk and smiled at her when she walked in.

"Please sit, Miss Lovegood," Professor Dumbledore said, gesturing towards a high backed chair in front of the desk. Luna sat down and placed the tin of licorice on his desk.

"I heard that you like licorice wands, Professor," Luna said serenely. The headmaster chuckled at the small girl's antics. Nobody had ever taken him so literally before.

"That was the office password, but I will not object," Professor Dumbledore said, reaching for a licorice wand, "Now, I have a few questions for you about the negative energy you felt on the evening of the attack. What did it feel like?" Luna furrowed her brow.

"It is sort of like a tingling around everything I am near. Like something is radiating from the area. It feels very different from positive energy, which warms you to your core. Negative energy gives you chills," Luna explained. Professor Dumbledore had clearly never felt negative energy before. Luna presumed this because he looked confused and then appeared to have figurative light bulbs over his head.

"Yes, well, how can you distinguish it when there are other distractions? Is it hard to pick out the energy that is positive and negative?" Professor Dumbledore asked curiously.

"Normal energy is everywhere," Luna said dreamily, "It just leaves you feeling nothing. Negative and positive energy is like a blast of heat in a cold climate." Professor Dumbledore looked like he understood.

"What could negative energy mean?" The headmaster inquired. Luna tilted her head to the side and thought about the question.

"Well, I felt negative energy the day my Mummy died. I also feel it around people who are mean to others and sometimes right before something bad happens," Luna said. Professor Dumbledore thought about this. It would make sense that she would feel negative energy before Mr. Filch's cat was petrified. That would definitely qualify as something bad.

"Have you ever felt negative energy anywhere else at Hogwarts?" Professor Dumbledore inquired. This little girl seemed to be the best person who could tell him where to look to investigate the attacks. That is, if she was being truthful. The headmaster would just have to trust that she wasn't lying about everything. She didn't seem like the person to lie. Luna thought about it for a moment.

"Well, I feel negative energy around the out of order girl's bathroom, around the Potions classroom, around the seventh floor tapestry of Barnabas the Barmy, around the restricted section of the library, around the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, and a lot of it around the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall and around the entrance to the Gryffindor common room," Luna said. Professor Dumbledore made note of this.

"Have you ever felt negative energy around Harry Potter?" Professor Dumbledore asked. Luna thought about it for a moment.

"Yes, I have," Luna confirmed. Professor Dumbledore played at this. Luna asked with concern, "Are you okay, Professor? Did a wrackspurt get in your ear?" The headmaster had never heard of a wrackspurt, so he just shook his head. He decided that he would research what a wrackspurt was later. It sounded interesting.

"You may return to your lessons, Miss Lovegood. You have been a huge help," Professor Dumbledore said. Seeing her thoughts, he added, "And you may also tell Miss Weasley everything we discussed today." After she had left the office, Professor Dumbledore sighed and rested his head in his hands. This was almost definite proof that Harry was a horcrux. And now he would have to look into the seventh floor, the Potions classroom, the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom, and would definitely have to have a talk with Professor McGonagall. The restricted section of the library was understandable, as was the out of order girls bathroom, as Myrtle Warren lived there. At least there were some leads. It would also be worth trying to feel negative and positive energy himself so he would not have to call on Miss Lovegood whenever he had a question.


	15. Chapter 15

**A/N: I know, I know, Luna is ridiculously over powered in this fan fiction, but I imagine her teaching herself magic before she went to Hogwarts. The timeline is probably not sticking with canon in this chapter, but I can't find my book to check it. Still not J.K. Rowling.**

After the school day was over, Luna pulled Ginny aside in the common room to tell her what had happened in the headmasters office. Ginny found it very interesting how the supposed greatest wizard of all time was still in the dark about energy when it came to magic. She had heard that Professor Dumbledore knew everything about magic, but that was clearly not true.

But the two were distracted from this by the upcoming Slytherin versus Gryffindor Quidditch game. Luna didn't really care about Quidditch, and she was really just going for Ginny, who was obsessed. They both agreed that they wanted to be ironic and spiteful towards Gryffindor, and were therefore supporting Slytherin. Luna and Ginny put on sundresses that Luna had charmed green and they borrowed some of an older Ravenclaw girl's eye shadow to streak their hair with green. Luna brought out all of her Saint Patricks Day accessories, also.

Needless to say, they got a ton of very weird looks when everybody saw two first year Ravenclaws decked out in Slytherin colors. It was rather funny, though, seeing everybody's reactions. Though Slytherins were closest to Ravenclaws, Ravenclaws didn't normally support them on the Quidditch pitch.

Luna and Ginny made their way down to the Quidditch pitch. It was a very nice day outside, what with barely a cloud in the sky. They decided to sit near the Gryffindors to rebel against standards even further, sitting down near Hermione. She looked with raised eyebrows at their attire and cracked a smile.

"Supporting Slytherin, I suppose?" Hermione asked, raising an eyebrow. She was wearing a red cardigan over a yellow dress to support Harry and the rest of Gryffindor. It was a very cute look.

"We have decided to be spiteful and ironic and to rebel against the standards set in stone. Also, we just want to annoy the heck out of people," Luna said cheerfully, waving a Slytherin banner in a sea of red. Hermione grinned at this. She had always liked Ginny and Luna. Ronald came down and sat down a minute later, scowling at Ginny and Luna.

"Figures you'd support the snakes," Ronald muttered having a seat next to Hermione. Hermione gave him a dirty look but did not say anything. The game began a moment later. It was actually rather exciting, which surprised Luna. Lee Jordan was a very funny commentator. Luna and Ginny cheered as loud as they could and waved their banners whenever Slytherin scored or blocked a Gryffindor goal, earning them many dirty looks from the Gryffindors, causing them to crack up.

But then something turned incredibly weird, to say the least. One of the bludgers went rouge and went after Harry. Luna was getting very worried about him, and Ginny even more so. She knew from her brothers how much bludgers hurt. The bludger would not let up on him. Thankfully, Harry caught the snitch soon, breaking his arm in the process, causing the game to end. Luna and Ginny were sad that Slytherin didn't win, but that feeling was quickly overridden by Professor Lochart running onto the field to heal Harry's arm.

"No, you don't know what your doing!" Ginny yelled at Professor Lockhart. He was clearly incompetent and had no clue how to heal an arm. But Professor Lockhart clearly could not hear her, what with the Gryffindor's celebrating the win.

Like most students in the school, Ginny and Luna had realized that Professor Lockhart was a total fraud. However, they discovered this before they even got into class. Luna had read his entire series and mapped out the timeline and several things over lapped. It was impossible to be in Peru fighting a basilisk and be in America taming a kelpie at the same time.

And then, somehow Professor Lockhart managed to vanish all of the bones in Harry's arm. How, Ginny had no clue. It was probably just his blatant incompetency shining through. Thankfully, Harry was sent to the Hospital wing before Professor Lockhart could ruin anything further.

Ginny and Luna walked back to the common room, chatting all of the way. They reached the entrance to the Ravenclaw common room. Thankfully, they did not have to answer a riddle as Cedric, being the nice person that he was, went ahead and answered the riddle. He was holding the door open for everybody.

"Hey, Luna, Ginny," Cedric acknowledged as they walked by, smiling at seeing that they were supporting Slytherin. Luna and Ginny said hello before retreating to their dormitory for the night.

* * *

The next day at breakfast, Cedric ran up to Ginny and Luna, breathless. Luna raised and eyebrow at him and took another bite of toast. It was a frequent occurrence for Cedric to run into the Great Hall ready to deliver some news.

"Care to share?" Ginny asked, amused at his expression. Cedric sat down, served himself some toast, and leaned in conspiratorially.

"Colin Creevey, you know, the first year Gryffindor," Cedric said, whispering so he wasn't heard by anybody else, "He was petrified. I don't know when, but I was in the Hospital Wing this morning because I woke up with a splitting headache that wouldn't go away, and I saw him there. He wasn't moving or blinking or whatever but his eyes were still open. I asked Madam Pomfrey what was going on and she told me that he had been petrified." Ginny dropped her fork, and it fell with a clatter against her plate. Colin Creevey was petrified. Ginny had never expected that after Mrs. Norris, a person would be petrified. Ginny must have looked faint because Luna grabbed her hand reassuringly and squeezed it like she did whenever Ginny was nervous.

"Does anybody else know?" Luna asked. Cedric shook his head.

"No, but it is bound to get out soon enough. People will notice that he is missing from classes and will ask what's up," Cedric said, "Everybody is going to flip out. I bet anything that Professor Lockhart is going to milk this for publicity, even if it is only within the school." Luna and Ginny wholeheartedly agreed with this statement. The next few days would be interesting.

* * *

Cedric ended up being right faster than he would have thought. The very next day, a poster was put up on the common room bulletin board that advertised a duelling club. Everybody in Ravenclaw expected Professor Flitwick to coach the club, but they noticed Professor Lockhart's wavy hair as soon as they stepped in the room. Ginny tried to turn around and just run (she positively despised Professor Lockhart), but Luna told her to at least give it a chance.

Later, Ginny would wish that she hadn't.

With a flourish, Professor Lockhart removed his cape and tossed it into the crowd like he was a rockstar, clearly making some fan girls incredibly happy.

"Welcome one and all to the first meeting of the Hogwarts Dueling club," Professor Lockhart raised his hands like he expected everybody to cheer for him. When nobody did, he cleared his throat awkwardly and continued, "Due to the recent events at Hogwarts, the headmaster had taken it upon himself to put me in charge of teaching students how to defend themselves, clearly seeing that I was the most qualified. I would also like to thank my assistant, Professor Snape." Professor Snape looked rather disgruntled at this, as anyone around Professor Lockhart felt after too long. Ginny and Luna were already getting annoyed. Cedric looked plain frustrated.

"Now," Professor Lockhart continued with a stunningly white smile, "I will explain how to properly duel as I have on many occasions. Of course, I won. Professor Snape, if you would please stand back to back with me and take ten paces forward." Professor Snape complied. Professor Lockart explained how to bow, which they all already knew what to do. It was just common sense.

"Three, two, one," Professor Lockhart yelled. Professor Snape, however quickly disarmed him. Nearly everybody wad trying to suppress their laughter. Professor Lockhart tried to play it off as a learning experience and then told everybody to practice duel and to disarm. Luna and Ginny looked at each other with raised eyebrows. They had barely learned anything. But they shrugged and pulled their wands out and stepped ten paces apart. They then began to duel.

"Expelliarmus!" Ginny shouted, nearly hitting Luna with the disarming charm. However, Luna was able to dodge it and sent a disarming her way. Ginny was able to dodge it also. She sent another Expelliarmus to Luna and it almost hit her.

"Protego!" Luna yelled, successfully casting the charm and blocking the disarming charm. She then cast another Expelliarmus and disarmed Ginny. Ginny went to retrieve her wand and came back to high five Luna. That was a really good charm to cast and Ginny really did not care about losing. Unfortunately, Professor Lockhart noticed this. He came over, smiling and clearly wanting to draw unwanted attention to Luna.

"Ah, Miss Lovegood, very impressive spell casting! Almost as impressive as me when I was in my first year at Hogwarts, though not as good. What about you duel somebody on the platform?" Professor Lockhart asked with a dazzling smile, though it wasn't really a question. Luna tried to refuse, but Professor Lockhart would not hear and he steered her over to the stage.

"How about you duel Harry here?" Professor Lochart asked. Harry agreed reluctantly, but probably only to get out of the duel that Professor Snape tried to set up between him and Draco Malfoy. The two professors stopped all of the duels and set Luna and Harry up on the huge table in the middle of the room. The two shared a look, both clearly very annoyed with the situation. At least they didn't hate each other. They took their paces and Professor Lockhart yelled for them to begin, right before pausing for a moment and saying that they could use spells other than Expelliarmus. Leave it to him to change the rules to make something more interesting.

"Expelliarmus!" Harry yelled. Luna rolled her eyes. He was so predictable sometimes. Luna dodged the spell very easily.

"Expelliarmus!" Luna yelled in return. It very nearly hit Harry, also. Professor Lockhart yelled for them to try different spells. This time, both Luna and Harry rolled their eyes. He was so annoying. Luna decided to give him what he wanted.

"Ducklifors!" Luna shouted, promptly turning Harry's shoes into ducks. He smiled at the spell while his shoes walked off into the distance. They would come back eventually.

"Stupefy!" Harry yelled.

"Protego," Luna sighed in return, almost lazily. She was getting tired of this duel and barely even cared when the force field did block the spell. Harry raised his eyebrows, as did many of the older years, impressed by the young girl's spell casting. However, this was soon overlooked by a wonderful Draco Malfoy distraction. With that boy, there was never a dull moment at Hogwarts.

"Serpensortia!" Draco yelled, summoning a snake on the stage. Harry and Luna froze as the snake materialized on the stage. It immediately began to slither across the stage towards somebody who Luna knew to be a second year Hufflepuff. Harry rushed forwards, almost in a trance-like state, before Professor Snape could make the snake go away. Harry hissed something at the snake and it turned to him. It then hit Luna. He was a parselmouth.

Parseltongue was such an interesting language. Luna's mother had tried to teach her some before her death. Luna was so lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice the snake going away or Professor Lockhart announcing that Dueling club was no longer in session or nearly everybody leaving the room until they were very nearly gone. Shaking her head to bring herself back to Earth, Luna hopped down from the table to meet Ginny, who was waiting for her by the door. Ginny seemed to want to say something but couldn't find the words to.

"I can't believe that Harry's a parselmouth!" Ginny burst out. From what she had heard from her brothers and parents, Voldemort himself was one. Luna shrugged indifferently.

"I think that it's cool. I've been studying mermish to try to speak to the merpeople in the lake," Luna said, "Merpeople are very interesting. And is it really surprising that he's a parselmouth? Harry's always pulling tricks out of his sleeves at the worst times for himself." Ginny had to concede to that point.


	16. Chapter 16

**A/N: Still not J.K. Rowling.**

For the next day and probably what would be far into the future, the entire school was terrified of Harry. Luna had no clue why. It may have been because he was a parselmouth, but Luna was pretty sure that that was a cool ability that people should want to have if anything. Luna certainly wanted to learn it. Sure, she already knew Korean, some Mermish, English, and some Italian, but it was unreasonable to stop learning. It was a thought that occurred in Luna's head at dinner the first night after the dueling club.

"Why does the entire school hate Harry?" Luna asked Ginny curiously. Ginny swallowed her onion soup and thought for a second before answering.

"Well-" Ginny began, but was soon interrupted by Ernie Macmillan talking loudly the next table over. Ginny and Luna turned around to look to see him surrounded by a big group of Hufflepuffs that were looking suspiciously at Harry, who was sitting at a table that was empty save for Ronald and Hermione.

"I mean, being a parseltounge is clearly a sign of being a dark wizard. If anything, they should have Potter thrown out of the school immediately, since there is no need for investigation when it comes to determining who conducted the attacks," Ernie said incredibly loudly, probably to make sure that everybody around him was listening intently. Ginny turned back to Luna.

"That's why people hate Harry. Snakes are held in association with dark magic," Ginny explained. Luna's mouth formed an O. They were distracted from this by Jessica and Beth walking by the area where they were sitting.

"Hey Looney," Jessica said, "Lose any more shoes lately? Or maybe your butterbeer cork necklace? Maybe they went into the garbage where they belonged." Ginny could feel herself getting red with anger, but Luna seemed unfazed.

"Yes, I did. Thankfully, I did have an extra necklace in my trunk," Luna said dreamily, "I should start looking for them soon, though. Thanks for reminding me." Jessica and Beth looked annoyed at this response. Ginny stood up and faced the two girls.

"Why don't you just eat your dinner instead of picking on people who don't deserve it?" Ginny asked hotly, though it was more of a demand than a question. Beth rolled her eyes.

"Sorry, just checking on Looney here. Not our fault that she loses her stuff left and right," Beth said, scowling at the two other girls, "Stop bothering us with your idiotic conspiracies and maybe we'll stop bothering you." Ginny began to take a step towards Beth, but was stop by Luna responding.

"You appear to have been hoodwinked by the wrackspurts around here," Luna said sympathetically, "I hate it when my brain goes fuzzy and I can't control myself or my actions." Beth harrumphed and walked away, Jessica trailing after her." Ginny waited until they were out of earshot to explode quietly.

"Who do they think they are?" Ginny muttered to herself, it taking all of her self control to not slam her fist on the table in frustration. Luna shrugged and continued eating her salad. Incredulously, Ginny asked, "It doesn't bother you?" Luna turned to look at Ginny.

"Well, I can't exactly blame them for the wrackspurts," Luna stated.

"But you know that they have been hiding your stuff!" Ginny said in response. Luna thought for a moment at that.

"Well, I have no proof," Luna reasoned. Ginny rolled her eyes a little bit. It was really annoying when Luna wouldn't take charge to defend herself on the grounds that there was no evidence that incriminated the other party involved. Knowing that Luna would refuse to discuss this any further, Ginny fell silent and resolved to talk to Professor Flitwick about Jessica and Beth. At least that would partially solve the problem.

Ginny saw that Harry definitely noticed how Ernie Macmillian was talking about him and left the Great Hall, obviously telling Hermione and Ronald to not follow him, as they both looked like they wanted to get up with him. Ginny stood up also and gestured to Luna to follow him out of the Great Hall. Luna took one last bite of her salad and the two left the Great Hall.

Thankfully, they were only a few seconds behind Harry, so he wasn't that hard to find. He was walking down the Transfiguration corridor. He hadn't noticed them following him yet. Ginny elbowed Luna.

"You talk to him," Ginny hissed. Luna looked confused so Ginny elaborated quietly, "You're nicer than me." Luna nodded in understanding and walked up to Harry, Ginny following behind so it seemed less suspicious. She tapped Harry on the shoulder, who turned around, surprised.

"Hello, Luna, Ginny,"Harry greeted the younger girls, "What are you doing here?" Luna decided to be blunt with it.

"We saw you storm moodily out of the Great Hall and wanted to make sure you were okay," Luna said calmly. Harry blushed a bit.

"Well, I'm okay, just so you know," Harry sort of joked. The three continued walking around the corridors aimlessly for about a quarter of an hour, talking about random stuff when Luna suddenly stopped in her tracks.

"Are you okay, Luna?" Ginny asked in concern. Luna pressed a hand to her head and looked up and Harry and Ginny.

"I feel very much negative energy surrounding this area," Luna muttered softly. Harry looked around the corridor and paled several shades. Ginny looked where he was facing and saw what had happened. Justin Finch-Fletchey and the ghost of Gryffindor tower were petrified, the ghost floating several feet above the ground.

"We need to get the professors," Luna stated, running back to the Great Hall along with Ginny and Harry. They rushed past the tables of staring students and straight to a group of professors that included Professors McGonnagall and Flitwick. Professor Dumbledore was nowhere to be seen.

"Nearly Headless Nick and Justin have been petrified!"Harry said, clearly frazzled by what he had just seen. Immediately, the professors stood up and jumped into action. Professor McGonnagall put the Great Hall on lock down, causing confusion and then panic when everybody put two and two together. Professor Sinistra was placed in control of the Great Hall while all of the other professors told Harry, Ginny, and Luna to take them to where they saw the bodies.


	17. Chapter 17

**A/N:** **Whoa** **, it's the** **holidays** **! I know that there are less people staying behind for the holidays than in canon, but I didn't do my research until after I finished the chapter. Still not J.K. Rowling.**

The rest of the night was a blur. Harry, Ginny, and Luna were called to the headmaster's office where all three were told to recall everything that they had seen or heard while walking around the hallways. Luna mentioned negative energy right around where Nearly Headless Nick and Justin Finch-Fletchey were found. After Ginny and Harry were told to leave, Luna was asked to stay behind by Professor Dumbledore to recommend some reference books so he could further study negative energy. Luna stated that it was not very well documented and that it is easier to learn from somebody else, but still recommended _The Basic Wand Making Guide._ It included a chapter on how to sense when a child had a match to a wand based on the positive and negative energy surrounding their grip on the wand.

The Ravenclaw Common Room was in an uproar that night. Ginny and Luna were trying to finish a potions essay but couldn't because of the accusations flying of who had caused the double petrification. Those who were formally going home for the holidays were now rushing letters out to their parents, telling them that they would be coming home. Ginny would want to visit Bill in Eygpt, but she didn't want to leave Luna alone for the holidays, as it was always a very hard time for her and she wasn't going home.

At last, the term had ended, and the only Ravenclaws left in the tower were Ginny and Luna. The large bookshelves were theirs to peruse alone and it felt good to finally not be distracted by a large chattering crowd. Ginny and Luna spent the first day of the break in the Common Room, working on their homework for the break. The house elves had noticed this and kindly sent up a platter of tea and sandwiches.

The rest of Ginny's family was staying for the holidays, also. When Ginny and Luna at last emerged from the common room for dinner that night, they were bombarded with Weasley's, minus Ron, demanding to know where they had been. Ginny found it sweet that they cared this much about her and Luna. Percy did look a little distracted, but Ginny figured that he was thinking about Bill. They had already been close, and Percy would have gone to visit him with Mum and Dad if it hadn't been for his prefect duties.

It was Christmas Eve, so the entire student body that remained were rather cheerful. There was Hermione, Ronald, Harry, Fred, George, Percy, Draco, Crabbe, Goyle, and a Hufflepuff that Ginny knew to be Susan Bones. Sure, Draco and his cronies were trying to be as annoying as was humanly possible, but that was to be expected. Luna and Ginny quickly finished their dinner and rushed upstairs again so they could get a good nights sleep for the next day. It had been snowing hard and it looked like their would be a foot of fresh powder for them to play in in the morning.

Ginny woke to the sound of Luna's alarm. Groaning, she pushed herself out of bed to see that Luna was already awake.

"Hello, Ginny. Merry Christmas," Luna said cheerfully, "I was waiting for you to open presents." Ginny smiled. That was sweet of her. Ginny and Luna got out of bed, sat on the floor, and began to open presents. Both of them got an infamous Weasley sweater (Luna's was blue with bronze stripes and Ginny's was a pretty shade of red). Ginny read the letter that Mum had sent along with it and quickly threw it into the fire after realizing that it was just another nagging letter for asking for a re-sorting. Luna had made Ginny a sketch of Hogwarts, which Ginny hung up on the wall behind her bed. Ginny had stressed and stressed over what to get Luna before eventually deciding on carving a pendant for her, which Luna loved.

All in all, they had a pretty good morning. They relaxed for a while, just chatting about random stuff before Luna said that there was something that she needed to do and left the common room. Ginny thought nothing of it, as Luna had been going somewhere a lot lately and normally returned within the hour. Ginny chose a random book from the bookshelf and decided to read it. _A Guide to Wandless Magic._ It would be worth trying to learn. Ginny settled into a squashy armchair and began to read.

Meanwhile, Luna was skipping along the corridors, arriving at the out of order girl's bathroom. She didn't want Myrtle to be alone for the holidays. It was actually one on the more minor reasons why she didn't go home, the major one being not leaving Ginny alone during the holidays.

Luna pushed open the door, ignoring the sign in bold letters that declared that the bathroom was out of order. Strangely, there were fresh footprints on the ground and whispers seemed to be coming from one of the stalls.

"Hello, Myrtle," Luna said serenely, "Merry Christmas." At that, there was a ton of rushed movement in the stall that appeared to be occupied. Luna frowned. That was odd. Myrtle couldn't move major objects, though she could turn on and off taps. Luna called, "Hello? Is there anybody else in here? Where are you Myrtle?" It was so strange that Myrtle was nowhere to be found. She could be off somewhere else, which did happen often. Luna sighed and resolved to come back later, but her curiosity got the best of her.

"Who's in this stall?" Luna asked, "It is very odd, as I see three pairs of feet and several potions ingredients on the ground. Do you mind if I come in? Great." Luna didn't wait for an answer because she knew that the people in the stall were trying to be as quiet as possible and would not respond. She opened the door and saw Harry, Ronald, and Hermione gathered around a cauldron that Luna recognized as containing Polyjuice potion. The three stood up, Ronald looking angry, Harry looking confused, and Hermione blushing furiously.

"What are you doing here, Looney?" Ronald asked furiously. Luna looked at him with her eyebrows slightly raised.

"I was coming to visit Myrtle and this happens to be a girls bathroom, might I remind you," Luna stated. She began to read the situation and think back to all of the conversations she had heard before this instance and guessed, "You brewed Polyjuice potion in an attempt to get Draco Malfoy to admit that he's the heir of Slytherin, aren't you?" Hermione blushed even harder.

"How did you know that?" Harry demanded. Luna shrugged.

"I hear things. Do you know where Myrtle is?" Luna asked. Hermione poked her head out of the stall and looked around.

"She was just here, but she must have gone away," Hermione stated. Luna thanked her and made to leave, but was stopped by Ronald being rude yet again.

"You had better not tell anybody about this," Ronald threatened. Luna rolled her eyes. Like he could do anything to her. She was way more powerful than him, as much as he hated to admit it. Luna flicked her hand, wandlessly and nonverbally casting _Petrificus Totalus_ before casting the counter charm immediately.

"What was that for?" Ronald asked in a whining voice. Luna rolled her eyes.

"Just making a point. You threaten me to not tell anybody despite you not having anything over my head. I wasn't planning to tell anybody other than Ginny, as a matter of fact, and you are unable to stop me, as I can wandlessly cast a variety of spells that can really get me out of any situation you try to put me in. So only make threats if you can actually follow through with them, or people will disregard them entirely like I just did," Luna stated before turning to Hermione and Harry, "Good luck. And please tell the professors if you figure anything out." With that, Luna skipped out of the bathroom in mild satisfaction. She made her way back to the common room and answered the riddle very easily. Ginny was reading a book about wandless spell casting, and Luna really didn't want to disturb her, but she felt that she had a right to know what her brother was up to this time.

"Hey Ginny," Luna greeted, causing Ginny to mark her place in the book and smile up at her. Luna decide to get it out of the way quickly, "You're brother is brewing Polyjuice potion with Harry and Hermione in the out of order girl's bathroom." Ginny paled.

"He is such and idiot," Ginny breathed, "He has to be breaking at least fifty school rules right now. Eh, whatever. I can't control his actions. I'm going to go get lunch." With that, the two left the common room.

As it turned out, Hermione figured out how to turn herself into a cat-human by using botched Polyjuice potion. Ginny found that incredibly interesting, but she and Luna did go to visit her in the Hospital Wing every afternoon to keep her company. Professor Lockhart dropped by during one of those visits, but Luna, Ginny, and Hermione gave him such harsh glares that he was forced to retreat after only twenty minutes of talking about how great he was.

And Draco turned out not to be the heir of Slytherin. That was the most surprising news of all, as he certainly acted like it. But apparently even he didn't know who the heir was, and that plunged Ginny and Luna into a new state of fear. It seemed that nobody knew who the heir was, and that was concerning, as two people, a ghost, and a cat had been petrified already.

The month of January passed with a stunning rapidness and no more attacks. It was February at last, and Luna decided to go and hang out with Myrtle for a little bit. Ginny wanted to speak to a ghost and decided to come with. They ignored the out of order sign as always and there wasn't a group of students brewing a potion in one of the stalls. However, Myrtle did appear to be very sulky.

"Hello Luna," Myrtle said glumly, eyeing Ginny, who she had never seen before, "Did you come to chuck a book at my head?" Luna shook her head adamantly.

"No, Myrtle, why would I do tha-" Luna's voice faded as her body erupted into chills. She looked down at the floor to try to steady herself and then she saw the source of all of the negative energy. It was a plain, thin black notebook. Luna backed away several steps, causing Ginny to notice what was wrong.

"That's what negative energy feels like," Luna muttered, "I should get a professor. Ginny, can you stay here and make sure that the book doesn't disappear?" Without explanation, she turned and ran from the bathroom. However, she only made it as far as the hallway with the headmaster's office when Ginny ran up behind her.

"I looked away for a moment because I was talking to Myrtle, and the book's gone! I don't know where it went!" Ginny panicked. Luna paled.

"Ginny," Luna said slowly, "What if that's the book that's been causing the excess of negative energy around the school? What if somebody was using it for something evil? Like attacking other students?" Luna and Ginny stared at each other, wide-eyed for a moment.

"Nobody would believe us," Ginny shook her head, "And the book is gone anyways. We have no proof." Luna, as much as she didn't want to, had to agree with that.

"We'll just be more careful and we'll have to keep an eye out for the book," Luna resolved. They would tell the teachers once they did, but, until then, nobody would take a second thought on what they had to say.


	18. Chapter 18

**A/N: Still not J.K. Rowling. We are nearing the end of Chamber of Secrets. Also, sorry for the extra late update.**

The rest of February passed without too many hitches. Valentines Day was an absolute mess and train wreck of lovesick teens and revoltingly pink Lockharts. But there was still no sign of the book anywhere. Ginny and Luna were almost ready to give up on it, but it felt too important to just ignore.

However, another Quidditch match was coming up, which certainly lightened the moods of the castle a bit. Ginny and Luna didn't really care about the outcome of the game, and decided, despite Ginny's Quidditch obsession, that it would be worthwhile to just study in the library for their finals that were coming up in about three months. They had learned so much material that is would certainly take that long to study. Ginny and Luna set up at a table in the corner near the magical beasts section about thirty minutes before the match. It was rather calming, sitting there in the library, just studying together. And then they were distracted by Hermione rushing into the library and hurrying over to the magical beasts section.

"Hey, Hermione,"Ginny said cheerfully. Luna smiled and waved. Hermione muttered a quick hello and pulled down a rather heavy tome off of the shelves. She flipped through it, muttering to herself before stopping on a page, scribbling something onto it, and discreetly ripping it out. Luna got a look at the paper.

"Basilisks?" Luna asked, "They are very interesting creatures." Hermione nodded breathlessly and rushed out of the library, leaving the book open behind her. Luna quickly returned it to the shelves before Madam Pince could see what Hermione did.

"That was certainly interesting," Luna commented before turning back to her book. However, ten minutes later, the pair was interrupted yet again by Madam Pince, who looked panicked.

"Girls, you must return to your dormitories at once," Madam Pince stated, magicking their books into their backpacks, "It is an emergency." Luna and Ginny immediately grabbed their bags and took off. They raced throughout the hallways until they reached the common room, where the prefects were holding the door open, hurrying everybody inside. Luna and Ginny ran up to their dormitory where Jessica and Beth already were sitting, talking in hushed tones.

"What's happened?" Ginny asked, putting her dislike of the two aside and already dreading their answer. For once, Beth didn't have anything snarky to say.

"Hermione Granger and Penelope Clearwater were attacked," Beth burst out. Ginny and Luna paled. There had been attacks, sure, but while people were still in the hallways, making their way down to the Quidditch game? That was crazy that nobody had saw what had happened.

Luna and Ginny stayed in their dormitory for the entire rest of the day, far after Beth and Jessica had gone downstairs. For a majority of the time, they had just talked about random stuff, not wanting to give the attack another thought.

And then, by the next day, Dumbeldore was gone. Hagrid was gone. And Professor McGonagall was acting as the headmistress for now. People were now even more scared and the professors escorted them to every class. There was an even stricter curfew and everybody was now confined to their common rooms when not in classes or in the Great Hall. Lockhart had kept on acting like Hagrid was the definite culprit, but Ginny and Luna weren't so sure. Hagrid seemed like such a nice person and it seemed unlikely that he would petrify Hermione Granger, a student who he was close to.

One late night a few weeks later, Ginny and Luna had finished their homework and were sitting next to the large windows of the common room. The common room was nearly devoid of people other than the two of them and a couple of fifth years who were diligently studying. Ginny was staring at the sky like ceiling, looking at all of the swirling galaxies above her. Luna was sketching the view outside. And then she dropped her quill in surprise.

"Hey, Ginny," Luna said, causing the redhead to lower her gaze to where Luna was looking, "Is your brother supposed to be outside this late at night?" Ginny looked hard where Luna was pointing before seeing the clear outlines of two boys with the same build as Harry and Ronald approaching the Forbidden Forest. Ginny shrugged in defeat.

"Well, I can't stop him from doing anything stupid," Ginny sighed, "It's nearly two o'clock. We really need to go to sle-" Ginny stopped abruptly, appearing to be in deep thought.

"What was Hermione studying before she was petrified? Basilisks, right?" Ginny asked. Luna nodded, and then her mouth made an o as she realized what Ginny must be thinking.

"That thing is as dangerous as an atomic bomb," Luna breathed, "How had nobody seen it yet- no, they would have died. Holy crap. But are we sure?" Ginny thought for a moment before nodding. It was certainly the most credible idea they had come up with so far.

"We'll tell the teachers tomorrow after class, everybody is asleep now," Ginny resolved. Luna agreed and Ginny asked, "But where could the entrance to the Chamber of Secrets be?"

"Mrytle's bathroom," Luna immediately piped up. Seeing Ginny's questioning look, she shrugged and said, "I research. She died around the time when the chamber was first opened and was apparently found in the bathroom she haunts." With that, the two went to bed, though it was a long time before either could sleep.

The next day seemed to be a blur of lessons. Immediately after school, Ginny and Luna hurried to the Headmistress's office (They had been able to slip away without anybody noticing) and knocked on the door. After a few minutes, it was clear. Nobody was there. And then an announcement came over the intercom.

"Code Purple," came Professor McGonagall's voice over the intercom, "This is not a drill. Immediately return to your dormitories. Do not leave for any purpose." Luna and Ginny groaned and hurried to the staff room, where teachers were already inside, clearly having a meeting of some sort. And the first thing they heard made their blood run cold.

"Percy Weasley," came a voice, "That's who was taken in the chamber. There was writing one the wall that signified that he won't come out alive. This will be the end of Hogwarts."


	19. Chapter 19

**A/N: AND WE ENTER THE CHAMBER AT LAST! I get, I haven't updated in a hot minute. But I have been extremely sad and unmotivated for the last three weeks. I'll try to resume my normal update schedule this summer, when I'll have way more time on my hands. Still not J.K. Rowling.**

Ginny removed her shaking hand from the doorknob. This couldn't be happening. Percy was pure blood. The heir had no reason to attack him. Unless...

"He knew too much," Luna whispered, finishing the thought Ginny didn't want to finish for her, "Think, Ginny. Have you ever seen Percy writing in a book? Like, a thin black book that looked extremely old?" Ginny nodded in confusion, her thoughts flashing back to the day outside when she had caught Percy writing something in a journal.

"Where have you seen a book like that?" Luna pressed. Ginny's eyes widened in realization. The book in the bathroom. Of course. It was Percy's. Suddenly, footsteps could be heard in the teacher's lounge. Luna grabbed Ginny's arm and pulled her into an alcove before tapping on the wall four times, revealing a hidden room. Luna pulled Ginny in and shut the door.

"How good are you with spells?" Luna asked.

"I-I'm ok-kay I guess," Ginny stuttered.

"We need to go into the Chamber of Secrets and get Percy back," Luna said in determination, "At this point, we might just be the only ones who can help. We get in, grab Percy, and fight as though our lives depend on it. Also..." Luna pulled out some cloth, fashioning it into a long strip and tying it around her head before doing the same for Ginny, "Basilisks can kill you with a stare, so pull this down at the first sound of slithering. Are you okay with this?" Ginny nodded shakily. Luna listened for footsteps, heard nothing, and exited the hidden room.

"W-what is that p-place?" Ginny asked shakily. Luna shrugged.

"I had time on my hands."

The two all but ran down the hallway towards Myrtle's bathroom. They flung the door open and looked around, searching for some kind of entrance. It took an agonizingly long amount of time, but Ginny finally found a faucet that seemed to look like a snake. However, it seemed to take even longer to figure out how to open the entrance, what with Myrtle's blur of questions that they had to ignore. Finally, Luna hissed in frustration and a passage was revealed. Ginny jumped back in alarm. Luna blushed.

"It must be Parseltounge triggered," Luna muttered before tying her blindfold around her head and diving into the chute. Ginny gasped at the sudden movement but then put her blindfold on and jumped after Luna.

Sliding down an eighty foot long chute was rather disconcerting. But what was even more disconcerting was landing on a pile of bones. Ginny stood up, trying to steady herself whilst not being able to see and standing on a pile of skulls.

"Luna?" Ginny murmured into the darkness. Somebody placed a hand on her shoulder and she jumped nearly a foot in the air.

"Sorry," Luna's voice came sheepishly, "I didn't mean to scare you." Ginny sighed in relief, and Luna continued, "We need to find the entrance." Ginny scrunched up her brow in confusion.

"I thought we already entered," Ginny muttered, "But whatever." A few seconds later, she heard Luna begin to stumble around in the dark and trip over something. Yet again, Luna hissed in frustration and Ginny could hear rock scraping against each other.

"And I thought the only use for learning how to curse in Parseltounge was expressing frustration," Luna mused, "I don't feel anything in front of me... can you make your way to my voice?" Ginny murmured a confirmation and slowly made her way over to the sound. She almost tripped several times on the way but somehow managed to run into Luna.

"Yep, this is definitely the entrance to the chamber," Luna said, "Let's go. I can take off my blindfold and guide you towards Percy. One of us needs to see for this." Ginny opened her mouth to protest, but Luna had seen and said with finality, "Come on, you have way more to live for than me, and both of us know that." Ginny glared as hard as she could in the general direction of Luna through her blindfold. But Luna's hand was now on her shoulder in a sort of comforting and reassuring way.

"You don't need to do this," Luna reminded her gently. Ginny rolled her eyes. They both knew full well that she needed to. Luna guided Ginny forwards and the two best friends entered the Chamber of Secrets. Luna gasped at something that she saw ahead but refrained from saying anything, though Ginny could feel her tense and her pace speed up slightly. Finally, the two came to a stop and Ginny felt Luna drop down to the floor. Ginny could tell that they had found Percy.

Luna really did not want Ginny to see her brother like this, pale and nearly dead, so she told Ginny, "Keep an ear out for any sound and blast a stunning spell in the general direction of any movement." Ginny nodded and went to blindly guarding Luna and Percy. Luna took a shaky breath and cast a reviving spell on Percy. He shuddered and his eyes flickered, but Percy quickly went back to his still and cold state of being. Luna sighed in relief. He could be revived. And then she heard Ginny cast a stunning spell at something. Luna whipped her wand out and pulled her blindfold down over her eyes. For a few seconds, there was no response.

"Well, I did expect Potter to get down here first," a boy's voice came. Based on the pitch, he was clearly going through puberty. But it felt faded, Luna supposed. Not to mention that the headache she had from all of the dark energy surrounding the Chamber of Secrets doubled. The boy continued, "Though you two do seem smarter than most. You seemed to have figured out about the basilisk. Oh, of course. You're Ravenclaws."

"Not to be cliche or anything, but who are you?" Ginny asked. This seemed to be what the boy was waiting for.

"Tom Riddle," Tom said, "But-"

"Voldemort," Luna stage whispered. There was a long pause, so she elaborated, "I research. It's all over history books if you know where to look." Ginny elbowed her teasingly.

"Luna, we talked about this, you can't ruin other people's dramatic shock," Ginny chided jokingly. Luna rolled her eyes under the blindfold.

"You seem to know more than most about who I am, as well as my plan," Voldemort said, his voice much more high and cold then it was before. Luna supposed that he must have been hiding his true voice to seem more welcoming and less dangerous, "So I suppose I'll have to kill you."


	20. Chapter 20

**A/N:** **Unmotivated-ness** **is awesome... Who here thought that Percy would get the diary? I did, but I wrote this, so I guess I don't count. Still not J.K. Rowling.**

 **Title because I'm probably crazy at this point- Ravenclaws make Gryffindor stuff Ravenclaw and outrun cool snake thing before going off on headmaster**

Ginny rolled her eyes, though it wouldn't be visible beneath her blindfold. She turned to the general direction of Luna and said, "That's cringey. Can you tell I'm cringing? I'm cringing now."

"I agree," Luna stated, "I mean, it's like the cliche where the villain is like, you know, scared that the heroes will overtake them and decide to try to kill them, but the heroes are winning, and then the villain is winning, and then the heroes win again, and drama. That's like, every action movie ever." Suddenly, she heard Voldemort hiss something. She had only covered the basics of Parseltounge so far, but she could clearly hear him hiss, "Kill."

Luna grabbed Ginny's arm to alert her to this, but she had heard the basilisk slithering also. Luna made a rude gesture with her hand towards Voldemort before running with Ginny blindly around like headless chickens.

"We can't just leave Percy there," Ginny murmured to Luna, trying to talk and run as quietly as possible, as to not arise the attention of the giant killer snake.

"Yeah, I'm aware of that," Luna muttered, "We won't." Ginny heard the underlying tone, though, that clearly stated that the fact that they were being chased by a murderous snake that could kill you with it's eyes was the more pressing matter at the moment. They had reached the doorway (or what felt like the doorway they had come through) but it was blocked with solid rock by now. Luna mumbled, "Oh, I hate my life so much," before a tweeting sound was heard.

"Raven," Ginny said, before realizing that she should have lowered her voice, "I bird watch when I'm bored or whatever." Then, something dropped into her hand. It felt very odd, sort of like a tiara, and clearly embedded with many stones, but Ginny was getting weird vibes from it. She could hear the snake slithering closer and Luna drawing her wand.

"This probably won't do anything, but Stupefy!" Luna yelled. That seemed to only make the basilisk more angry, though Ginny could hear it slow for half a second before speeding up. It was very close now and she could hear Voldemort laughing in the background. Figuring that she had nothing to lose, she shoved the tiara thing onto her head.

A warm feeling suddenly filled Ginny's bones and she felt as though she could see all around her, though her blindfold was still clearly on. Ginny now had a clear idea of what to do to defeat the basilisk. She raised her wand and shouted, "Mutatiogallus!" Ginny could hear the basilisk roar in rage, but could also detect a familiar sound: roosters crowing. The basilisk dropped and didn't move again. It was dead. Ginny got another sudden urge to rush over to where Percy was, and drive one of the teeth she had picked up from the basilisk's mouth into a book that she just discovered was beside him. Ginny heard another scream, but she knew that it wasn't Luna. And then there was silence. Ginny knew that she could remove her blindfold now, so she did.

Percy had just begun to wake up. He was still incredibly pale and cold, but he was definitely more alive than he was before. Luna had taken her blindfold off also at this point and had rushed over to Percy and Ginny. She looked at Ginny's head in shock, and Ginny took off the tiara.

"Nice crown, Gin," Percy mumbled sleepily, before getting up in a panic, "I swear, I never meant to petrify-"

"That's the diadem of Ravenclaw," Luna whispered in awe, "It hasn't been seen in a thousand years. Holy crap, what do we do with it? Oh, nice to see you awake Percy." Percy gave her an awkward nod of acknowledgement and went back to silently fretting about his punishment for his actions that were beyond his control. Ginny put back on the tiara and saw that they needed to destroy it, or it would play a critical and evil role in the future.

"We need to destroy it," Ginny said. Luna nodded automatically, trusting Ginny's judgement more than she did her own wish to explore the diadem's capabilities. Ginny brought down a basilisk fang onto the diadem and it essentially exploded in their faces. At least Percy and Luna had the sense to cover their faces, but Ginny got a full blast of the thousand year old metal. She could feel several new cuts open up on her face and flinched in pain.

"Yeah, let's get out of here. Blindfolds on in case there's another basilisk," Luna stated, folding a blindfold for Percy. He accepted it with a thank you and the three felt their way out of the chamber, Ginny grabbing the book, which she now realized was the same book that she had seen in the bathroom but covered in blood. After the fact, Ginny had no clue how they actually got back upstairs, but the fact remained that they did. A few minutes later, they were knocking on the headmaster's door, Luna knowing where it was from prior experience.

The door opened and the three pulled up their blindfolds, knowing that there would be no basilisk in here. The sight that greeted them was rather emotional. Mum and Dad were crying by the fireplace and Professor McGonnagall was offering them words of comfort for their "lost" children. Dumbledore was sitting at his desk, observing the scene as though waiting for someone. The four turned to the children at the door and Mum and Dad rushed out of their seats to hug Percy and then Ginny.

"Oh, we thought you were dead!" Mum sobbed. Percy awkwardly pried her arms off of him and pushed his horn-rimmed glasses up his nose.

"How about you explain what happened and how you are still alive?" Professor McGonnagall prompted. Ginny nudged Luna indicating that she really did not want to speak right now. Luna understood and started explaining their wonderful adventure.

"See, Ginny and I figured out that the thing in the chamber was a basilisk yesterday after thinking about the attacks and what we saw Hermione Granger looking up in the library right before she was attacked. We figured that she was attacked because she knew too much about what the monster was. We were making our way to the teacher's lounge to tell you guys about the basilisk, but we heard that Percy was taken into the chamber. We figured that he had been possessed because we saw him writing in a book earlier this year that was the same as the book we once saw in a bathroom with a ton of dark energy surrounding it," Luna said, indicating the book Ginny had placed on the table in front of the adults, "So we made wonderful blindfolds to protect us from the basilisk's stare and went down to the chamber, met You-Know-Who, though he was clearly still going through puberty, almost got eaten by a basilisk, a cute little raven dropped the diadem of Ravenclaw on Ginny, who used it to defeat the basilisk and You-Know-Who, destroyed the diadem of Ravenclaw, and got out of there." Luna finished her speed summary of the day's events and stared at the adults expectantly.

When nobody responded, Luna rolled her eyes and said, "Percy, care to expand on the book?" Percy nodded nervously and explained everything from how he found the diary to how he was writing in it constantly and forgetting the days that the attacks were on. Once he finished, Ginny's father opened his mouth as though to scold Percy, but Luna silenced him with a sharp look that clearly stated to save the scolding for later.

"Well," Dumbledore said cheerfully, "Mister Weasley will suffer no punishment for his actions, as he was not the one controlling his actions at the time. I think that a steaming cup of hot chocolate is in order along with a dreamless sleep potion is in order for you, so if you would escort your son to the hospital wing-" But Dumbledore was unable to finish the thought, as Ginny and Luna had both jumped to their feet in rage.

"REALLY?" Luna yelled at the headmaster, who was rather surprised, "'A steaming cup of hot chocolate'? 'A dreamless sleep potion'? That's all that's going to happen?"

"Well, if you wanted punishment for Mister Weasley-" Dumbledore started in confusion.

"No, that is not at all what I am talking about," Luna rolled her eyes, "I can't even... Ginny, please explain for me, I need to take my migraine medication."

"Okay, I get that you're trying to be nice, but my brother has been through a very traumatic experience this year. He befriended a book that slowly manipulated him into dropping all of his relationships and only spending time with the book before making him attack other students and literally forcing him into a dark chamber full of snakes and sucking away his life force! You think that a 'steaming cup of hot chocolate' can fix the emotional scars that experience leaves?" Ginny asked, making air quotes, "It can't. He needs counselling to at least help him work through his experiences. Come to think of it, why are there no counselors in this school full of depressed, puberty affected teenagers? Why?" Ginny looked at Dumbledore expectantly, who just awkwardly cleared his throat, not expecting to be put on the spot like that. Ginny then turned to Luna and said, "This is ridiculous. I need to study for finals. Care to join?" Luna nodded and the two walked out of the room, leaving four adults and one teenager standing there awkwardly.

Quite honestly, it felt good.


	21. Chapter 21

**A/N: OH IT IS SUMMER TIME HAHAHAHAHAHA... For those who are wondering why Cedric is a Ravenclaw, he was originally going to be a huge part of the plot, but I scrapped that part of the story. He may still appear from time to time, but just as a minor side character. Hope that makes sense. Still not J.K. Rowling.**

The rest of the school year (which was really only a week) sped by, as there were no examinations. It seemed a bit ridiculous to Ginny and Luna to cancel the things that determined if you moved up to the next grade after everybody had studied for them, but they weren't about to complain. It really took the stress off of the summer. Sure, they still had summer homework, but they would finish that within a week.

Dumbledore had been rather awkward in the Great Hall since Ginny and Luna had yelled at him. However, in his end of year speech, he did state that he was going to look for people to fill the position of school counseller, much to Ginny and Luna's satisfaction. At least he was trying to be a good headmaster and help his students. But there should have been effort before.

And so the posters, blankets, and pride flags went into their trunks, half-hearted goodbyes were said to Jessica and Beth. The train was filled and a headcount was performed, and they were on their way home.

Ginny and Luna went to the furthest possible train compartment and sat down next to each other, filling up the other seats with their rather large trunks. Many other students walked by, but none came in looking for a seat, choosing instead to squeeze into other compartments with their friends. Luna and Ginny really didn't mind.

"Well," Luna said, checking her watches, "We have six hours on this train and then an entire summer before us. What do we do?" Ginny thought about the question for a moment.

"We could sketch each other," Ginny halfheartedly stated, feeling as though the idea was stupid, surprised when Luna shrugged and brought out her sketchbook, tearing off a piece of paper for Ginny. Ginny took the paper and said, "Just warning you, I can't draw." Luna gave a light laugh at that, but didn't answer. The two sat in silence for a while, stealing glances up at each other's faces, until Luna finally announced that she was done.

"Yeah, whatever," Ginny sighed, handing her paper to Luna to inspect and Luna doing the same. Luna chuckled slightly at Ginny's drawing. Ginny didn't really have much artistic ability, but it was a nice attempt. At least the facial proportions were correct.

Ginny had a much different reaction, as Luna was one of the best people she knew at drawing. But the picture she drew seemed to be alive. It wasn't moving like the portraits at Hogwarts, but it seemed to breath and look around the compartment. That and it looked exactly like Ginny. Ginny handed Luna the sketchbook back and gave her a look that Luna called her, "Good job, you did, woohoo look." Luna smiled and gave Ginny back her rather pitiful drawing.

"Did you hear that Colin started dating Beth?" Luna asked Ginny, putting her sketchbook. Ginny raised her eyebrows at that. Beth was not really one to show affection.

"I did not," Ginny stated in surprise, "Where did you hear that?"

"The end of year feast. Colin came over to where she was sitting and professed is love for her. It was a very nice display of affection. Rather heartwarming, too."

The rest of the train ride seemed to drag by slowly, but Luna and Ginny managed to keep themselves occupied. As they got closer and took off their robes and changed into muggle clothes, Ginny began to get nervous for the yelling match that was sure to ensue about her never asking for a resorting and not writing home very often after the first few letters. But it would be over eventually. Luna noticed this, but decided against saying anything, knowing that acknowledgement would just make Ginny more stressed.

And then the train pulled into the station and children rushed to meet their parents with open arms. Luna and Ginny promised to meet each other in the field the next day, Luna gave Ginny a sympathetic squeeze on the shoulder and the two parted to meet their respective families. Ginny took a deep breath and walked over to the other Weasleys.

"Hey, Mum, Dad," Ginny acknowledged awkwardly, giving them both a hug. Mum gave her a look that said, "We have something we need to discuss." Ginny turned to Luna a mouthed, "Help me" as she was led away with her family. She didn't realize that Luna mouthed something back until far later. She never figured out what it was.

…...

Ginny sighed heavily. Everybody had sat down at the table and were looking at their parents expectantly while Ginny stared out the window at the night sky. It was nearly nine o'clock, as traffic had been awful getting home. They were at a standstill for nearly an hour. They usually did a mini speech in honor of the end of the school year, but that clearly wasn't happening. Ginny was beginning to get sick of the silence when Mum finally burst.

"Ginny, I am unable to understand why you can't follow simple orders!" Mum screeched. Ginny rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest.

"Because this isn't military camp," Ginny muttered under her breath. Nobody heard her except for Fred and George, who gave her tight, sympathetic smiles. Mum didn't notice and continued her rant, despite Dad's quiet protests.

"I specifically told you to ask for a resorting! And then you have the nerve to send me back a one word letter? This is not what I raised you to be like!" Mum continued.

"Yeah, and I don't particularly give a crap," Ginny said, standing up to look Mum in the face, "I got perfect scores in all of my classes, didn't get a single point deducted all year from Ravenclaw, never got a detention, got on the good side of Professor Snape, and literally saved Percy from death, stopping You-Know-Who from coming back, but all you can focus on is how I got sorted into a house that represents me. That's nice." Ginny concluded dryly. Mum had begun to go red in the face and Fred and George had begun to shovel food in their mouth so they could leave the table as quickly as possible.

"All Weasleys have been Gryffindors, all of them! Why do you feel such a need to make a spectacle of yourself all the time?" Mum nearly screamed. Ginny huffed in annoyance.

"Oh, so being who I am and getting into the house for smart people is a spectacle now, is it?" Ginny shot back. Mum ignored this and continued to speak, ignoring how her reasoning was flawed in too many ways to count.

"And then you barely sent us any letters over the course of this year! How do you think your father and I felt about that?" Mum screeched.

"I sent letters, I just didn't send them to you," Ginny muttered. She had sent letters to Dad, who most likely didn't share them with Mum. Ginny gave her mother a cold look, "Also, this is exactly why I wouldn't send letters to you! Because all you would respond with is how I was such a disgrace and wouldn't just show some unconditional love for your daughter!" Fred and George had finished their food and began to sneak away from the table at this point. Ronald was just staring at the whole exchange along with Percy while Dad looked incredibly uncomfortable.

"Is there anyway this could be worse?" Mum asked in exasperation.

"Yes, would you like a list?" Ginny asked sarcastically, slamming her chair into the table and walking up the stairs to her room.

"Get back here right now, Ginerva Molly Weasley!"

"No," Ginny said simply, entering her room and moving the dresser against the door so nobody could open it before collapsing on her bed. That sucked, but it was at least over now. Ginny sighed and tried to ignore the arguments between Mum and Dad that had just started up over whether Mum was being too harsh on her. Ginny's vision flickered towards the window, which was slightly ajar, allowing a breeze to come through. She stood up and made her way over to the window, looking out at the view for a moment or two before sliding it open further so it was at it's maximum possible opening. Ginny stuck her head out the window and assessed what was above her. There were plenty of things she could climb on, and so be it if she fell.

Ginny took a deep breath and placed her feet on the windowsill, standing up and turning around so she was facing the side of the house. It was one foot after the other, she kept on reminding herself. There was about ten feet she would need to climb to get to the roof of her room, then another ten feet about above that. Ginny began to climb the side of the house, not caring if she fell anymore. In about five minutes of carefully placed steps, she reached the top of the roof of her room. Another ten, and she was on top of the entire house and she could breathe again.

The view was positively stunning. Ginny could see the rolling hills and the constellations in the night sky. She could see Emily Fawcett snogging a boy in front of their barn about half a mile away and Cedric Diggory taking his horse into it's stall for the night and Luna's father closing the curtains to his bedroom. She could see the small figures of muggles walking around for late night dates, in and out of the little bakeries and pubs. And then a blonde head came over the other side of the shingles. Ginny gaped at it for a few seconds before realizing who it was.

"You had to go for the highest point, didn't you?" Luna feigned anger, brushing herself off and sitting down next to Ginny, "Nice view."

"How did you know I was up here?" Ginny asked, already knowing the answer.

"I knew that you guys would get into an argument at dinner, so I've been waiting under the kitchen window until I heard you storm upstairs. I was planning on waiting for you to wait for everybody else to go to bed before sneaking out to the field, but you surprised me by coming out your window. So I climbed after you. And here we are," Luna stated. She then put a hand on her only friend's shoulder, "Do you want to talk about it?" Ginny sighed as the two leaned against each other, Ginny's head on Luna's shoulder and Luna's head on Ginny's.

"I love her, I really do, but she can be so," Ginny searched for the right word, her mind finally landing on it, "Traditional, I guess. She just wants to keep up the family appearance. If I ever told her I was gay... I don't even know what would happen. She would probably be ashamed at best. And then I'm really confused, because I don't know if I'm even a girl, but I know that I'm not a boy, and I don't want to ask Mum about it, because what would she say? That would just ruin everything in my Mum's mind. She always wanted a daughter to help plan weddings and to teach how to knit and all that jazz." With that, the two were silent for a long time, content in watching Emily Fawcett make out with that boy from afar and to be with each other in a half-embrace.

Ginny had been thinking about it for a long time now. Every time Beth and Jessica got wrapped up in "girl talk," Ginny felt rather uncomfortable around them. Like she shouldn't be there, listening in on something that she shouldn't have been. She hated it whenever some teacher referred to her as "Miss Weasley" and she was confused as to why. Ginny hated having to put on a skirt every day for school, yet not being brave enough to ask for trousers. But she wasn't a boy, she knew that from all of her years spent around her brothers. She didn't know who she was, better yet, what gender she was, and she was too scared to ask.

"What do you think it feels like to truly love someone?" Luna suddenly asked. Ginny took a double take, not expecting the question, before thinking about the question.

"I guess it would feel good if they loved you back, but awful if they didn't and were dating someone else," Ginny guessed, "I guess I wouldn't know what that felt like. I mean, we are eleven and twelve. It's a bit early for true love, in my opinion at least. That's why Colin and Beth will probably break up within the year. They don't know how to be in a healthy relationship with. Ideally, I would fall for somebody based on their character, not just their looks, and somebody who I was already very close to. That way, they would be a part of my life even if we weren't in a romantic relationship." Luna turned her head up towards the stars glistening above them.

"I wonder if there's someone in the universe for all of us," Luna wondered quietly, "How would you find someone like that? Or would they find you? And how would you know if they are the one for you?" Ginny shrugged.

"Sometimes, the right person could be right in front of you and you would never know until the time is right. And maybe we are fated to never settle down and raise a family or just be content with our spouse without children. Maybe we could just have a group of people who love us that we love back. As long as we have people who care for us, I don't think that true love is a necessity. After all, life is about being happy, right? There are many ways we can be happy, but I don't think that loving someone with all your heart is the only one," Ginny concluded, "But I guess that fate will do what it wants to with us, but we'll be fine if we stick together, eh?" Ginny playfully punched Luna on the shoulder, to which the blonde replied with a light smile.

"I guess so. When you put it in perspective like that, romance really is overrated," Luna stated, "Want to stay up here all night and head to the field in the morning?" Ginny nodded and the two laid back against the shingles, listening to the sounds of nature that eventually lulled them to sleep, content with living in the moment.

…...

"Ginny! We were looking for you! You weren't in your room last night, and everybody was scared!" Ronald's voice came over the hills. Ginny rolled her eyes and put down her quill. Luna and her had been working on their summer homework together and were currently working on a particularly tough potions essay. They were in the field of daisies that they always seemed to end up in when they wanted to be alone.

Ginny and Luna had climbed down from the roof at five in the morning and had written a note on a piece of stationary to put on the counter top in the kitchen at Ginny's house for her Mum and Dad to see, explaining where Ginny was. But they apparently didn't see it, despite the note being left in plain sight.

"What do you need?" Luna inquired of Ronald, who looked at her with something like fright, Ginny thought. He didn't particularly like Luna and was always afraid that she would transfigure him into a toad (Ronald knew that she had the talent to do so). Ronald scratched the back of his head awkwardly.

"Well, Mum was worried-"

"No, no, tell the truth, we want to know," Ginny muttered, starting her potions essay back up again, "The dreamless sleep potion... created in 1569... uses in medicine include..." As Ginny continued to mutter to herself about her essay, Ronald stood there for a moment before realizing that he would just need to speak over her.

"We finally removed the dresser from behind your door, and nobody was in your bed and your window was wide open! Mum was losing it, but Dad seemed kind of calm because he trusts you to not do anything stupid. We've been searching all night and all morning! Where were you?" Ronald asked breathlessly before looking to Luna, "Were you guys hanging out?" Luna nodded slowly, not wanting to say anything that could be particularly incriminating to their roof climbing. She didn't want Ginny to be banned from the roof, as Ginny had realized that it was a very calming place for her mind to be.

"Well you have to come back to the house, Ginny! Mum will want to know if you're okay," Ronald stated. To his credit, he did actually sound sort of concerned.

"More like yell at me. And I don't have to go anywhere," Ginny stated. Ronald looked rather surprised by this, but ultimately decided to leave the two friends be and just tell Mum to come find them herself, as Ginny was refusing to come home.

"You know that you're going to have to go back, right?" Luna tried. Ginny nodded mutely and sadly. She was going to go back for dinner, but the two had made a pact to keep themselves as occupied as possible outside of the Burrow, as tensions were running extremely high in the family at this time. But Luna had forced Ginny to agree to attend family dinners each night.

"I'm just going to try to put it off."

…...

I wish I put it off more, Ginny thought, as she picked at her food at the Burrow's dinner table. It had been silent so far, nobody really wanting to speak, as Mum was still rather P. . They didn't want to set her off. Suddenley, Mum put down her fork and stared at Ginny intently, Ginny returning her cold gaze with a perfect match to it. And then Mum looked away and turned to Dad, who awkwardly cleared his throat.

"Erm, I won the Daily Prophet Draw, and your Mum and I have decided to use a majority of the winnings for a trip to visit your brother Bill along with Charlie," Dad announced. Ginny internally piped up before deflating again. She loved Bill, she really did, and Charlie perhaps even more, but it was more of the family reunion part of it that got her. Oh, well. She would still be able to write to Luna, and Percy had been more nice to her recently, so she might even be able to use Hermes this time around.

"When are we leaving?" Ronald asked hopefully, asking the exact question Ginny had been wondering for her.

"Tomorrow afternoon, we will leave to the Ministry for a portkey and we will return three weeks later," Dad confirmed. That wouldn't be so bad, Ginny thought. She looked down at her plate and saw that there were only a few bites left. Ginny quickly shovelled the rest of the food into her mouth and attempted to excuse herself from the table and run up the stairs, but Mum's voice caught her again.

"Where do you think you're going, young lady?"

"Up the stairs," Ginny said slowly, without turning around, "That is why I am climbing the stairs right now, what a shock." Ginny could hear Fred and George's snickers from behind her.

"We still have a lot to discuss," Mum said, her chair scraping against the floor as she prepared to stand up.

"No, I don't think we do," Ginny stated, turning around to stare her mother in the face, "I thought that you made your thoughts perfectly clear yesterday night. Do we really need a repeat in here? Do we need to go through this again?"

"Oh, there is plenty more to talk about here," Mum said, stepping around the table so she was at the foot of the stairs, "Where were you last night and today, Ginerva?" This was in a deadly quiet whisper. Ginny thought for a moment.

"The roof," Ginny determined, saying it so confidently that it could be considered a bluff, which she hoped it would be. Mum rolled her eyes.

"Tell the truth," Mum ordered.

"I did." Ginny stated, turning around and marching to her room again, ignoring the shouts of Mum behind her. Ginny didn't bother to slam the dresser against the door this time. Instead, she left a note on her now perfectly made bed explaining where she went, just like earlier. Ginny then took a deep breath and climbed out the window, going down this time.

Now that Ginny trusted herself to not fall (and she was going down), she made it down much more quickly than she reached the roof. Ginny's feet landed softly and quietly on the slightly wet ground of the backyard. She then walked slowly and carefully out of the yard, trying to not arise the attention of the chickens and succeeding, to her surprise. The chickens always seemed to catch her by surprise, but apparently not this time.

Once Ginny was out of the gate, she walked at a far quicker pace through the field filled with wildflowers and tall grass until she saw a light source illuminating a patch of grass in the distance. Ginny smiled and shook her head. Luna always seemed to know... Ginny pushed through the grass until she reached a small clearing where Luna had flattened down the grass.

Luna had really gone all out this time. There was a picnic basket, a red and white checkered blanket, and many candles acting as weights to hold the blanket down, causing a smell of cinnoman to drift through the air. And Luna was sitting on one side of the blanket with her feet folded under her body and her hands supporting her so she was leaning back and staring at the stars above them. Ginny coughed lightly to get Luna's attention and Luna inclined her head slightly without turning around.

"I thought you would come," Luna murmured softly, "So I came prepared. You seem stressed about something. Maybe something that was a new development. At least, that's my guess." Ginny sat down on the other side of the blanket and the two turned around to face each other. Luna's hair looked white in the moonlight.

"Yeah, you're pretty much on the nose on that one," Ginny sighed, "We're going to see Bill and Charlie in Eygpt for three weeks." Luna's eyes widened at that.

"But that's great news! You haven't seen Bill in, like, forever!" Luna exclaimed happily, though her face turned to her listening face once she saw Ginny's expression, "Oh. Yeah, I get it now. Oh. Yeah, okay. Wow." Ginny laughed at her expression before sobering up almost instantly.

"I just wanted to let you know, we're leaving tomorrow," Ginny said sadly, "Though Percy owes me a few favors for saving his life and all that jazz, so he'll probably let me use his owl to send you letters." Luna nodded before leaning over to hug her only friend. The two stayed like that for a while, the trips and problems and constellations above them forgotten.


	22. Chapter 22

**A/N: Back for part two of great summer vacation. Drama will unfold. At least I'm not making this chapter a musical. Be grateful. I also decided to not really give much attention to the summer trip to Egypt, as it was rather hard to write. Still not J.K. Rowling.**

"So, how are we getting there?" Ginny asked her father as the walked up an overgrown hill with their luggage. The two had walked ahead of the group very quickly as both of them, unbeknownst to the other, had been awake for hours. Arthur had been last minute packing and Ginny had been with Luna.

"Have you ever taken a portkey?" Arthur asked his daughter with a kind look on his face that seemed to be always present around his family. Ginny shook her head and Arthur continued, "Well, it's sort of like a teleporter. You know, from those muggle television shows? Except these can look like anything. Ours is supposed to be an old sweater, blue cashmere." Arthur then looked around nervously before leaning into Ginny to whisper something in her ear, "Do you know what cashmere is? 'Cause I don't want Molly to explain it to me." Ginny clapped a hand over her mouth to stifle her laughter.

"It's right there Dad," Ginny giggled, pointing to a dirty sweater that matched the description that laid about ten feet to the right of them. Arthur immediately perked up and waved to the rest of the large chattering group.

"It's over here!" Arthur shouted, directing the rest of his family to the sweater. Once everyone was there, Arthur explained, "It's going to be leaving soon, everybody touch a finger to the sweater. The people who had never used a portkey before (most of the kids) looked around uncertainly before doing as Arthur said. A few moments later, it felt as though a hook had been pulled through Ginny's navel and she was jerked forwards.

Ginny shut her eyes tightly shut against the rush of wind, but she felt herself hit the ground a few moments later. And it was hot. Really hot. Ginny opened her eyes and looked around. They were in a cramped alley that turned off of a bustling street.

"Cairo?" Ginny guessed. Arthur nodded excitedly, wandering into the street with his wife, looking around at all of the muggle shops.

* * *

"He should be around here somewhere. Charlie got here two days ago from Romania," Mum said, looking at the map that she had in her hands, looking up every few seconds as though expecting Bill and Charlie to appear out of thin air. They were standing on a sidewalk that turned into yet another alleyway. Ginny tried to stop herself from giggling.

She had seen Bill and Charlie twenty minutes ago, spying secretly on the group, waiting for their mum to notice them. When they noticed that Ginny had noticed them, Bill winked at her and held a finger to his lips. Ginny had been silent about their whereabouts, but she was getting restless. She went up to Mum and tapped her on the shoulder, causing the older women to turn around and look at Ginny expectantly.

"Check on the roof of that sandwich and flowers shop, and then look slightly to the right," Ginny said to her. Mum looked to where Ginny specified and she smiled slightly, waving to her sons. Ginny could see them groan at their cover being blown before ducking down and apparating to the alleyway behind where their family was.

"Come on Ginny, we had a bet going," Charlie groaned, "Now I owe Bill five sickles." Bill scoffed and punched his brother on the arm before the family erupted in hugs and greetings and all around smiles. Ginny smiled. This might be a good trip. Just might.

* * *

"Really Mum?" Ginny asked in exasperation. They were standing outside of several magnificent pyramids, but Mum wouldn't let her go in the last one because of what had happened to the muggle explorers who tried to raid the tomb. Apparently they had left behind some pretty funky remains.

"Ginny, it is not appropriate for a young lady such as yourself," Mum said firmly. Ginny rolled her eyes and turned to Arthur, who awkwardly cleared his throat, not wanting to disagree with his wife.

"Erm, I mean, Ginny has seen her fair share of disgusting stuff. You know, from the boys," Arthur stated. Mum had to concede to that, Ginny thought desperately. Mum gave her only daughter a kind look but still shook her head.

"Okay," Ginny sighed in defeat, moving to sit down on one of the nearby benches. She could choose which battles she would fight, and this wouldn't be worth it. Twenty minutes later, the boys came outside, chattering about muggles who had grown extra heads and how it was so cool, but Ginny really couldn't bring herself to care.

* * *

"Hey Perce?"

Percy looked up from his summer homework to see Ginny sitting down on the side of his bed. He tried to smile at her. After all, he sort of owed her and her friend his life. Percy sat up and stretched out the muscles in his formally hunched back before turning to Ginny and asking, "What do you need Ginny?"

"Can I borrow Hermes?" Ginny asked, causing Percy to nearly spit out the tea he had just sipped. It had been at his bedside for an hour now and was cold.

"Why?" Percy stuttered as he wiped off his mouth. Ginny smiled and sat with her back leaning against the whitewashed walls. They had been staying in Bill's cabin for the past two weeks now and were sleeping in bunk beds. Ginny's was on top of Percy, and he supposed that he couldn't complain, as she was the most tolerable of all of his siblings.

"You owe me a favor. I'd take this now before I ask you to break me and my future girlfriends up for me," Ginny said casually. Percy froze at that. Was she…

"You-you're-"

"I'll just take Hermes," Ginny said cheerfully, coaxing his owl out of its cage and tying something onto it's arm before sending it out the window.

* * *

Luna added a stroke of lime green to her canvas before tucking her brush behind her ear and taking a step back to look at the painting. It was a person looking through one of those loft apartment tile windows that was dirty around the individual blocks edges. Trees framed the painting and Luna captured that look of hopelessness that was apparent in so many young people's faces these days. Luna sighed and sat back. She didn't know what caused her to make something that was just plain depressing.

Luna brought out her wand from it's designated drawer of her easel and cast spiritus pictura. It was a very useful spell that she had discovered when going through her father's library. Suddenly, there was a tapping on her window. Luna looked to see an owl trying to get in. Luna smiled. Ginny must have gotten Hermes from Percy. Luna went over to the window and unlocked it, taking the scroll from Hermes.

"I don't know what owls eat. Would you like an apple?" Luna offered holding the apple that she had on a coaster on her desk out to Hermes. Hermes eyed it for a moment before snatching it up and flying to perch on one of the ceiling's beams. Luna unfurled the scroll and sat down on her paint covered stool to read it.

Hey Luna,

Man. I hate writing letters. Like, not to you. But, well, you know what I mean. Egypt is pretty cool. Bill's here. But you knew that. So yeah. Um, I guess that I convinced Percy to lend me Hermes if you're reading this. It's hot, but what do you really expect? It's Egypt. It's hot. The logic of it is astounding. Mum wouldn't let me go in one of the pyramids because of the funky remains of muggles who tried to raid pyramids. Bill says hello. So does Charlie. You know, my brother who's obsessed with dragons? Yeah, that's him. Also, how's that painting you were working on going?

Anyways, it sounds cliche, but I really wish you were here. By the time Hermes gets to you, we'll be home in about three days. But yeah. Miss you.

-Ginny

Luna smiled and put the letter in her box of letters that she kept under her bed before looking back to the painting that was now moving. She couldn't paint over it now. She could try to make it more happy, but she wasn't redoing everything.

"I name you," Luna paused for a moment before resuming, "Lisa. Lisa Wyon. You live in London, England. In the painting, you were thinking about all of the friends you left behind to get here. Nice to meet you." Lisa smiled slightly and Luna smiled back. It was nice to have someone in your corner. She could always ask Flitwick if she could hang it up in one of the hallways.

"Nice to meet you too," Lisa said in a soft voice, "What type of tea is my favorite?" Luna smiled and grabbed the personality. This was always her favorite part.

* * *

"I'm going to miss you," Ginny said to Bill and Charlie. Their vacation was over now and nobody knew the next time they would see each other. Charlie ruffled Ginny's hair and gave her one last hug.

"Ginny, hurry! The portkey's almost here!" Ron yelled. Ginny gave her two older brothers one last hug before hurrying beside the rest of the family and touching her finger to a caved in football, giving them one last wistful look before the hook was jerked through her navel again and they were in the Burrow.

"I'm going to go unpack," Ginny said dully, grabbing her plain beige duffle bag and hurrying up the stairs. Ginny slammed her door shut and locked it before throwing her bag onto her bed and climbing out the window as she had down before. Once her feet landed on the cool ground with night air surrounding her, Ginny noticed that Luna had laid a note for her right where she normally came down from the window.

The note read I'm in my room. Ginny pocketed it and began the walk to Luna's house. It was only a few minutes away and it seemed like no time before Ginny was climbing up a tree to Luna's room. It was still well lit and Luna appeared to be talking to someone. Ginny knocked on the window and Luna turned to it, her face brightening as she hurried to open it.

"Oh I missed you so much," Luna said, wrapping Ginny in a tight embrace before letting go and sizing her up, "You didn't put on sunscreen."

"Nevermind that," Ginny said dismissively, "It's so good to see you. But can you do me a favor? I need to make a power move." Luna nodded in confusion and Ginny continued, "Can you cut my hair for me?" Luna blinked a few times before nodding again and guiding Ginny to her desk chair.

"What do you want me to do?" Luna asked, putting a smock around Ginny's neck, "Just warning you, I have limited ability."

"Uh, short. Like, really short, like a pixie cut or something."

"Like, Audrey Hepburn, Ruby Rose, Anne Hathaway, or Winona Ryder?"

"Uh, Winona Ryder," Ginny determined. Luna brought out a magazine for reference and began to get to work. While she snipped more and more hair off, they chatted.

"How did that painting go?" Ginny asked, "You know, the one you were doing thumbnail sketches for right before I left?" Luna sighed and cut off another lock of hair before putting the scissors down and bringing a painting over from the corner.

"This is Lisa. Lisa, this is Ginny, my friend," Luna said. The woman in the painting was staring out a window wistfully, and Ginny felt a stab of pity for her. Luna continued, "I was going to ask Flitwick if she could go up in the hallways at Hogwarts, but I've been teaching herself about her life story for now."

"Nice to meet you Lisa," Ginny said, but Lisa just stared on.

"Yeah, she got really sad when I told her what happened to her first love. She died in a car crash when she was seventeen," Luna sighed, returning Lisa to the easel and continuing to cut Ginny's hair. She compared it to the magazine and figured that it wouldn't get much better. "I'm done," Luna announced, bringing out a mirror. Ginny stared at her reflection before jumping up and hugging Luna.

"I love it!" Ginny squealed, "Oh, Mum is going to be so mad at me!" But for once, Ginny didn't feel scared. Now that the weight on her shoulders was gone, Ginny felt unstoppable.


End file.
